CIHM 

Microfiche 
Series 

(■Monographs) 


ICIUIH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


C.n.dl.n  .n.tlt«t.  ,or  Hi.torlcl  Mlcc^roductlon.  /  ,n..l,ut  c.n.dl.n  d.  micror.produetlon.  hi.toriqu.. 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
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Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 
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r^  Coloured  ink  (I.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
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□   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  et/nil  illnclratinne  an  #.»..!«.. 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Relid  avep  d'autres  documents 


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Only  edition  available  / 
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Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
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intdrieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
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omitted  from  filming  /  II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajout6es  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais.  lorsque  cela  6tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  6t6  f  ilm^es. 

Additional  comments  / 
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L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
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plaire qui  sont  peut-6tre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  m6tho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indiqu§s  ci-dessous. 

J I  Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I  Pages  damaged/ Pages  endommag6es 

n  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
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pelure,  etc.,  ont  *t*  film6es  k  nouveau  de  fap on  k 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
film^es  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


D 
D 


D 


Thri  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below  / 

Ce  document  est  lilrn*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu«  ci-dessout. 


lOx 


14x 


18x 


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20x 


22x 


26x 


30x 


24x 


28x 


32x 


«BM 


Tha  copy  filmed  h«r«  Hm  lM«n  raprpducsd  thanks 
to  tha  sanareaJty  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'axampiaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grica  A  la 
gAniroait*  da: 

Bibliothiqua  nationala  du  Canada 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
posaibia  eensidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacif icatiena. 


Laa  imagas  suivantas  ont  it*  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  eompta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  I'ajiamplaira  film*,  at  ^n 
conformitO  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  capias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  fllmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
sion.  or  tha  back  covar  whon  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  capias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa> 
sion.  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  imprassion. 


Laa  axamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couvarturs  an 
papiar  aat  imprim*a  sont  film*s  an  commancant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  sn  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darni*ra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  iscond 
plat,  salon  lo  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axampiairas 
originaux  sont  filmis  an  commandant  par  la 
pramiira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
dlmpraasion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darni*ra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — ^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  ▼  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appiias. 


Un  das  symbolos  suivants  spparaltra  sur  la 
darniOra  imaga  da  chaqua  microfiche,  salon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — »>  signifle  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbole  Y  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charu.  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  retios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  ara  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  ss 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Lea  cartas,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  etre 
filmic  *  dea  taux  da  riduction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  etre 
reproduit  en  un  soul  clich*.  il  est  filmi  i  partir 
da  Tangle  supirieur  gauche,  do  gauche  i  droite, 
et  do  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imeges  nOcessaira.  Las  diagrammes  suivsnts 
illustrent  le  mOthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

MICROCOPY   RBOIUTKM   TiST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


tel2.8      |2.5 
1^     112.2 


us 
u 


116 

14.0 


ill  1.8 


^    APPLIED  IN/HGE    li 


nc 


1653  Eost  Main  Street 

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THE    LADIES'   BATTLE 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

KIW  VOaK  •   BOSTON  •  CHICAGO 
•AN  PBANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  ft  CO.,  Limitbo 

LONDON  .   BOMBAY  •   CALCUTTA 
MBLBOlniNB 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TOBONTO 


THE 


1 


LADIES'   BATTLE 


BY 


MOLLY  ELLIOT  SEAWELL 


KiiD  Ifocit 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


191 1 

All  right  rturmtd 


Sa- 


219023 


CorvnoHT,  igti. 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  dectrotjrped.    Pi-bluhed  April,  xgii. 


€o 


THOSE    OF    MY   COUNTRYWOMEN 


WHO   THINK    FOR    THEMSELVES 


THIS    LITTLE    BOOK   IS   DEDICATED 


MOLLY  ELLIOT  SEAWELL 


3 


I 


The  Ladies'   Battle 


i 


ONE  fact  concerning  the  woman- 
suffrage  movement  is  plain  to  all 
who  have  watched  that  move- 
ment: this  is,  the  superficial  and  inadequate 
manner  in  which  the  matter  has  been  dis- 
cussed in  general.  The  suffragists,  in  their 
spoken  and  published  utterances,  reveal 
that,  while  they  propose  a  stupendous  gov- 
ernmental change,  they  have  little  know- 
ledge of  the  fundamentals  of  government, 
the  evolution  of  representation,  the  history 
of  politics,  or  the  genesis,  scope,  and  mean- 
ing of  suffrage.  In  their  treatment  of  the 
subject,  they  hopelessly  confuse  political, 
philanthropic,  socialistic,  and  economic  ques- 
tions; nor  do  they  seem  able  to  discriminate 
between  objects  of  national  and  those  of 
state  or  municipal  regulation.    Women,  sud- 

7 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

denly  proclaiming  themselves  suffragists,  have 
been,  in  a  few  months,  and  without  giving 
study  to  the  scienc    -f  government,  advanced 
to  leadership.     Some  of  these  leaders — for 
leaders  they  are,  in  the  true  sense  of  being 
spokesmen  for  suffrage — have  never  studied 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  con- 
tinually show  in  their  speeches  and  writings, 
a  singular  want  of  knowledge  concerning  the 
unique  nature  of  the  American  form  of  gov- 
ernment.   They  habitually  seek  to  illustrate 
the  workings  of  suffrage  in  the  United  States 
by  instances  drawn   from  monarchial  gov- 
ernments, whose  basis  is  not  only  different, 
but  inimical  to  a  popular  representative  sys- 
tem, like  that  of  the  United  States.    Few  suf- 
fragists,   perhaps,    could    explain,    off-hand, 
why  the  House  of  Representatives  has  a  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Affairs,  and  the  Senate  has 
a  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.     Fewer 
still,  probably,  understand  the  connection  be- 
tween  the  first  Parliament  of  Henry  IV  and 

8 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


1 
1 


the  absence  of  a  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee in  the  United  States  Senate.  But  to 
persons  versed  in  government,  the  mere  men- 
tion of  the  absence  of  a  Ways  and  Means 
Committee  in  the  United  States  Senate  sug- 
gests the  answer.  The  ordinary  voter  may 
not  understand  these  things;  but  suffragists, 
proposing  a  great,  fundamental  change  in 
government,  a  change  greater  perhaps,  than 
they  really  contemplate,  ought  to  understand 
such  points,  which  arc  among  the  alphabet 
of  representative  government.  To  attempt 
enormous  governmental  changes  without 
knowing  this  alphabet  is  like  trying  to  work 
the  integral  and  differential  calculus  without 
mastering  the  ground-rules  of  arithmetic. 

One  of  the  strangest  features  of  the  wo- 
man suffrage  movement  is  that  suffrage  is 
treated  throughout,  not  as  a  means,  but  as  an 
end.  In  suffragist  speeches  and  writings,  no 
mention  is  made  of  what  women  would  do, 
if  they  had  a  vote,  beyond  certain  philan- 

9 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

thropic  movements  and  municipal  ordinances 
supposed  to  be  for  the  betterment  of  women 
and  children.  No  suffrage  organ,  or  woman 
suffragist  has  given  any  hint  of  knowing  that 
our  banking  and  currency  system  requires  re- 
forming, or  that  there  is  any  need  for  a  lim- 
ited liabilities  law,  of  an  effective  corrupt 
practices  law,  of  a  good  domestic  parcels  post 
law,  of  methods  of  national  defense,  and 
many  other  governmental  problems,  with 
which  the  newspapers  are  full,  and  the  minds 
of  thinking  men  concerned  to-day.  It  is  doubt- 
ful, whether  in  the  whole  suffrage  body,  a 
woman  could  be  found  who  has  an  intelli- 
gent view  of  these  subjects ;  nevertheless  the 
suffragists  clamor  to  vote  on  these  and  all 
other  matter. 

The  objectors  to  woman  suffrage  have 
only  recently  begun  to  formulate  their  views, 
and  with  the  exception  of  a  few  suffrage  ex- 
•-^rts,  little  has  been  done  to  acquaint  the 
public  with  the  anti-suffrage  side.     The  one 

10 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


or  two  really  comprehensive  books  on  the 
anti-suffrage  side,  have  been  books  for  the 
library  and  for  legislators  rather  than  for  the 
millions. 

One  reason  of  this,  perhaps,  is  that  the 
anti-suffragists  are  in  an  enormous  majority. 
This  huge  majority  has  an  instinctive  dislike 
to  the  overturning  of  the  social  order  which 
woman  suffrage  would  bring,  but  it  has  rea- 
soned little  more  than  a  person  reasons  who 
runs  indoors  from  a  hailstorm.  The  incon- 
veniences of  remaining  exposed  to  a  hail- 
storm are  so  plain  that  few  persons  work  the 
matter  out  logically;  they  act  on  instinct, 
which,  unlike  reason,  makes  no  mistakes. 
Still,  if  an  effort  were  made  forcibly  to  ex- 
pose persons  to  hailstorms,  a  dozen  conclu- 
sive reasons  would,  at  once,  be  found  why 
they  should  go  Indoors.  Mr.  William  Dean 
Howells  has  said  that  he  has  heard  many 
appeals  against  woman  suffrage,  but  he  has 
nevjr  heard  any  reasons  against  it;  yet  there 

II 


THE  LADIES'  BAITLE 

are  compelling  reasons  against  it.  These 
reasons  are  not,  in  the  smallest  degree,  based 
upon  the  assumption  that  women  are  not 
equal  to  men,  but  merely  that  men  and  women 
are  not  identical. 

The  suffragists  have  assumed  that  the  rev- 
olution would  be  over  when  a  woman  can 
walk  up  to  the  polling  booth  and  deposit  a 
ballot  in  the  box.     It  is  at  this  point,  how- 
ever, that  the  revolution  would  begin.    It  is 
true  that  limited  suffrage  prevails  in  twenty- 
two  states,  and  full  suffrage  in  five— Colo- 
rado, Idaho,  Wyoming,  Utah  and  Washing- 
ton, and  still  there  is  no  general  revolution. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  states 
where  there  Is  limited  suffrage,  women  have 
shown   a   general   indifference  to  exercising 
suffrage,   while  the  experiment  In  the  five 
newer  and  sparsely  settled  states  In  which 
there  is  full  suffrage  affords  no  adequate  test 
for  full  suffrage  in  great  centres  of  civilza- 
tion,  and  in  vast  and  crowded  communities, 

12 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


with  immense  and  diversified  interests. 

Wyoming  is  a  state  of  cowboys  and  cattle- 
ranges.  Idaho  is  dominated  to  a  great  de- 
gree by  the  Mormon  Church,  which  has  ever 
been  the  good  friend  of  woman  suffrage,  and 
the  most  powerful  advocate  it  has  yet  had. 
In  Utah,  the  women  voters,  under  the  lead 
of  Mormonism,  have  voted  steadily  in  favor 
of  polygamists  and  law-breakers,  who  have 
been  sent  to  Congress,  in  defiance  of  the  law, 
by  the  votes  of  women.  In  the  State  of 
Washington,  the  experiment  has  been  too  re- 
cent to  afford  any  data.  It  may  be  noted 
however,  that  the  same  phenomenon  was  re- 
peated in  Washington  as  in  Colorado.  When 
woman  suffrage  was  adopted  in  Colorado  in 
1893,  the  State  had  the  highest  divorce  rate 
of  any  State  or  territory  in  the  Union.  When 
Washington  adopted  woman  suffrage  in  19 10, 
that  State  led  every  State  and  territory  in  the 
Union,  in  divorce.  In  Colorado,  the  most 
civilized  of  all  the  suffrage  states,  the  suf- 

13 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

frage  experiment  has  not  been  entirely  sue 
cessful,  as  will  be  shown  further  on.     The 
near  view  of  suffrage  does  not  seem  to  help 
It.    During  the  last  fourteen  years,  Califor- 
nia, South  Dakota  and  Oregon  have  all  de- 
feated suffrage  amendments  to  their  consti- 
tutions.   It  may  be,  that  the  company  kept 
by  woman  suffrage  is  not  pleasing  to  legisla- 
tors.   While  happily,  all  suffragists  are  not 
Mormons,    aU    Mormans    are    suffragists. 
Neither  are  all  suffragists  socialists,  but  with 
a  few  exceptions,  all  socialists  are  suffragists. 
That  suffrage  tends  strongly  to  socialism,  and 
that  the  relations  between  the  socialists  and 
the  suffragists  are  close,  is  very  clearly  shown 
for  many  years  past  by  the  columns  of  the  Wo- 
man's Journal,  the  official  organ  of  the  suf- 
fragists.    In    its  issue    of    November  12, 
1 9 10,  the  following  appears  in  its  reading 
columns:  "Noted  Socialists  Lecture.  Philip 
Snowden,  M.  P.,  and  Mrs.  Ethel  Snowden, 
both  noted  socialists,  and  equal  suffragists  will 

14 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

speak  at  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  on  De- 
cember I,  at  8  P.  M.  The  lecture  is  free." 
And  in  New  Zealand,  where  women  have  full 
suffrage,  and  where  they  exercise  it  to  the 
same  extent  as  men,  the  woman's  vote  being 
almost  equal  to  that  of  men,  the  government 
is  embodied  socialism.  If  the  English  news- 
papers are  to  be  believed.  New  Zealand  is  one 
of  the  most  corrupt  electorates  in  the  world. 
Nor  does  it  seem  a  model  in  other  respects,  ac- 
cording to  a  late  official  report  of  Mr.  Paul, 
Minister  of  Justice,  on  pria.  reform.  He 
says:  "The  problem  is  not  an  easy  one,  nor 
is  it  a  small  one.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
native  born  population  is  yearly  going  to 
prison."  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the 
number  of  socialists  among  the  suffragists  in 
the  United  States. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  wo- 
man suffrage  has  not  yet  had,  anywhere 
in  the  world,  an  actual  test.  It  has  not 
so    far,    met   the    shock    of    foreign    wars, 

15 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

of  civil  strife,  of  revolution.  Until  a 
nation  with  woman  suffrage  has  passed 
through  some  immense  and  prolonged  con- 
vulsion, like  the  American  Civil  War,  or  the 
French  Commune  in  187 1,  it  cannot  claim  to 
have  had  any  real  test,  "^n  those  Titanic 
struggles  of  great  nations,  t^'n  asunder  by 
internal  wars,  with  torrents  of  blood  and 
oceans  of  treasure  poured  out  like  the  un- 
salted  seas  that  sweep  over  Niagara,  would 
these  two  great  nations  have  come  out  better 
if  one  half  of  their  electorates  had  been  un- 
able to  lift  a  finger  in  attack  or  defence,  yet 
compelling  the  men  to  useless  -esistance? 
Who  shall  say? 


16 


II 


THERE   arc  two  basic  principles 
against  woman  suffrage.     A  basic 
principle  works  with  the  merciless 
mechanism  of  a  natural  law  like  gravitation, 
and  is  indeed  a  natural  law.    It  may  be  vio- 
lated for  a  time,  just  as  a  stick  may  be  thrust 
u    the  cogs  of  a  machine,  but  the  machine 
will  not  work  until  the  stick  be  removed,  and 
is  certain  to  be  damaged  by  the  performance. 
True,  it  is  not  only  the  suffragists  who  have 
defied  a  basic  principle;  it  is  within  the  mem- 
ory of  living  men  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  through  some  of  its  ablest  and 
most  experienced  legislators,  violated  every 
principle   of   constitutional   government,    of 
common  sense  as  well  as  common  justice,  by 
placing  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  recently 
emancipated  slaves  who  could  neither  read 
nor  write,  and  were  without  property. 

17 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

By   the    Fourteenth    Amendment   to   the 
Constitution,  in  five  states  of  the  Union,  all 
power  and  property  were  handed  oved  to 
the    combined  vice   and   illiteracy  of  those 
states.      By   the    Fifteenth    Amendment,    a 
coach  and  horses  were  driven  through  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  an  at- 
tempt to  compel  the  same  civil  rights  to  be 
given  to  the  recently  emancipated  slaves,  only 
a  few  generations  removed  from  cannibal- 
ism, as  to  the  highest  type  of  the  Caucasian 
race,  with  a  thousand  years  of  civilization  be- 
hind it.     If  civilization  could  be  destroyed 
by  legislative  enactment,  it  would  have  been 
destroyed  in  the  five  Southern  states  which 
were  thus  delivered  over  to  anarchy.     But 
civilization  cannot  be  destroyed  by  legisla- 
tive enactment.     It  may  be  grievously  in- 
jured,   and   frightful   disorders   and   lasting 
wrong  may  ensue;  but  the  basic  and  natural 
law  will  always,  in  such  dreadful  events,  rise 
above  the  statute  law  and  civilization  will 

i8 


:.^-.^^»' 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

maintain  itself  at  all  costs. 

The  reasons  against  the  enfranchisement 
of  women  bear  no  relation  whatever  to  the 
reasons  for  the  practical  disfranchisement  of 
the  negro   which   now   prevails   throughout 
the  Southern  states.     It  may  rather  be  com- 
pared to  the  disfranchisement  of  all  the  citi- 
zens of  that  district  which  has  the  highest 
percentage  of  literacy  In  its  white  population 
of  any  district  in  the  world,  and  the  highest 
percentage    of    individual    wealth,    and    in 
which  the  Government  disburses  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-two  millions  of  dollars  a 
year  in  wages.    This  is  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbla,  containing  a  population  of  343.005 
souls.    No  citizen  of  the  District  has  a  vote. 
The  experiment  of  giving  these  citizens  votes 
had  been  fully  tried,  when,  less  than  forty 
years  ago,  two  of  the  greatest  jurists  of  the 
age,   the  late  Senator  Thurman,   of  Ohio, 
and    Senator    Edmunds    of    Vermont,    car- 
ried through,  without  division  of  party,  a 

19 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

scheme  of  disfranchising  every  citizen  in  the 
most  intelh'gent  municipality  in  the  country. 
Two  reasons  were  given  for  this.  One  was 
to  prevent  the  negroes  from  voting,  and  the 
other  was  the  belief  that  it  was  better  there 
should  be  no  representatives  of  politics  at 
the  seat  of  Federal  government  except  Fed- 
eral representatives. 

In  this  case,  as  from  the  beginning  of  rep- 
resentative  government,  the  ballot  was  rec- 
ognized, not  as  a  right,  but  as  a  privilege, 
which  could  be  withheld  from  Intelligent, 
qualified  persons,  as  well  as  from  the  unqual- 
ified. As  Senator  Elihu  Root,  one  of  the 
greatest  living  jurists,  has  tersely  put  it,  "But 
if  there  is  any  one  thing  settled,  It  Is  that  vot- 
ing  is  not  a  natural  right,  but  simply  a  means 
of  government." 

No  doubt  Senator  Root  had  In  mind  the 
decision  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  "The 
granting  of  the  franchise  has  always  been  re- 
garded  in  the  practice  of  nations,  as  a  matter 

20 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


of  expediency,  and  not  as  an  inherent  right." 
Whether  the  great  Chief  Justice  be  cor- 
rcct  in  denying  suffrage  to  be  a  natural  right, 
or  whether  the  suffragists  be  correct  in  call- 
ing It  a  natural  right,  it  has  always  been 
treated  as  a  privilege  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  and  must  therefore  be 
defined  as  a  privilege.  For  there  is  no  method 
In  our  present  form  of  government  by  which 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  may  be 
overturned,  without  overturning  the  govern- 
ment at  the  same  time.  Any  discussion  of 
the  question  of  whether  voting  be  a  natural 
right  or  a  privilege  must,  therefore,  be  purely 
academic.  In  claiming  It  to  be  a  natural 
right  the  suffragists  seem  to  have  lost  sight 
of  the  position  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the 
American  government.  If,  however,  voting 
be  a  natural  right,  not  only  men  and  women, 
but  children  may  vote,  for  a  natural  right  Is 
acquired  at  birth  and  lasts  until  death.  There 
could  be  no  voting  age.    Neither  could  there 

21 


:i    i 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

be  any  educational  or  property  qualification; 
natural  rights  do  not  depend  on  education 
or  property.  Every  one  of  the  million  for- 
eigners  who  land  in  this  country  yearly, 
would  instantly  become  a  voter,  as  soon  as 
he  or  she  set  foot  on  American  soil,  for  a 
natural  right  accompanies  a  human  being 
wherever  he  goes,  and  descends  only  Into  the 
grave  with  him. 

What  the  legislation  of  such  an  electorate 
would  be,  cannot  be  predicted,  for  the  world 
never  saw  a  civilized  electorate  founded  on 
natural  right.  It  is  true  that  in  remote  ages 
and  among  certain  savage  tribes,  the  right 
to  take  part  in  the  government  was  regarded 
as  a  natural  right.  In  the  evolution  of  gov- 
ernment, however,  it  was  very. soon  recog- 
nized that  a  voice  in  the  government  was  not 
a  natural  right,  and  must  be  regulated.  As 
time  passed  on,  and  more  and  more  persons 
became  qualified,  the  electorate  was  increased. 
At  present,  in  a  popular  representative  gov- 

22 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

cmment,  like  that  of  the  United  States,  the 
electorate  has  reached  its  ultimate  develop- 
ment. It  is  guarded  and  restricted  among 
men,  and  there  is  a  constant  effort  to  make  it 
representative,  not  only  of  numbers,  but  of 
governing  qualifications.  This  country  has 
not  forgotten  its  last  reckless  Increase  of  the 
electorate  and  never  will  forget  it. 

Although  the  woman  suffragists  have 
steadily  and  officially  proclaimed  suffrage  to 
be  a  natural  right,  certain  men,  in  sympathy 
with  them,  have  held  a  contrary  view.  In  the 
Woman's  Journal,  the  official  organ  of  the 
suffragists,  there  appeared  in  the  same  issue 
as  the  announcement  of  the  socialist  lecture 
by  equal  suffragists,  a  statement  from  Chief 
Justice  Isaac  N.  Sullivan,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Idaho,  and  a  pronounced  suffragist, 
these  words: 

"We  recognize  that  to  vote  is  a  privilege 
and  not  an  absolute  right." 

This  statement  contravenes  the  whole  suf- 

«3 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

frage  position,  officially,  publicly  and  con- 
stantly maintained  that  suffrage  is  a  natural 
right.     It  is  tnie,  that  recently,  some  ad- 
vanced  suffragists,  realizing  that  the  natural 
nght   argument  has   been   laughed   out   of 
court,  have    changed    the    phraseology    to 
"moral  right."    But  a  moral  right  is  identi- 
cal  with  a  natural  right.    All  natural  rights 
are  moral  rights  and  all  moral  rights  are 
natural  rights.     So  the  absurdity  remains. 
Besides,  voting  is  not  a  right  at  all,  and  those 
who  speak  of  it  as  a  right  show  ignorance 
of  the  nature  of  suffrage. 


24 


Ill 


THE  two  basic  reasons  against  wo- 
man suffrage  in  the  United  States 
are  as  follows: — 
First,  no  electorate  has  ever  existed,  or. 
I  ever  can  exist,  which  cannot  execute  its  own 

laws. 

Second,  no  voter  has  ever  claimed,  or  ever 
can  claim,  maintenance  from  another  voter. 
In  the  suffrage  states  these  basic  laws  are 
for  the  moment  nullified. 

Concerning  the  first  of  these  two  proposi- 
tions, the  suffragists  have  alleged,  in  contra- 
diction, that  in  England,  there  is  still  plural 
voting;  in  Sweden,  property  votes,  and  one 
man  may  cast  a  hunared  votes,  if  he  have 
enough  property;  while  in  Germany,  one 
fourth  of  the  voters  elect  four-fifths  of  the 
Reichstag.  But  these  are  all  arguments  on 
the  anti-suffrage  side,  and  show  how  impos- 
es 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

sible  such  systems  would  be  in  a  popular  rep- 
resentative government  like  the  United  States. 
England  and  Sweden  are  monarchies,  which 
are  founded  upon  .privileged  classes,  with  a 
military     caste,     relatively     large      naval 
and     military     forces,     and     conscription, 
although      the      latter      is     cleverly     dis- 
guised in  England.    In  Germany,  there  can 
be  no  legislation  without  the  permission  of 
the  Kaiser,  who  may  dissolve  the  Reichstag 
at  any  moment,  and  who  has  something  like 
six  hundred  thousand  soldiers  to  enforce  his 
will.     Such  electorates  would  be  utterly  Im- 
possible In  the  United  States.    The  first  prin- 
ciple of  our  government  is,  that  there  shall 
be  no  large  standing  army:  and  that  the  peo- 
ple shall  govern  themselves.    To  do  this,  re- 
quires an  electorate  capable  of  enforcing  its 
own  laws.    Plural  voting,  and  the  voting  of 
property,  and  one  fourth  of  the  electorate 
electing  four-fiths  of  the  legislature  are  not 
ideal  systems  anywhere,  but  tley  are  totally 

26 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

incompatible  with  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment. 

Under  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  the  normal  voter  must  have  two  quali- 
fications. First,  he  must,  except  in  occasional 
individual  instances,  be  physically  able  to  make 
his  way  to  the  polls,  against  opposition  if  nec- 
essary; and,  second,  he  must  be  able  to  carry 
out  by  force  the  effect  of  his  ballot.  Law  con- 
sists of  a  series  of  Thou-shalt-nots,  but  govern- 
ment does  not  result  until  an  armed  man 
stands  ready  to  execute  the  law.  Force  con- 
verts law  into  government.  In  civilized 
countries  there  are  three  methods  of  convert- 
ing law  into  government — fine  or  compensa- 
tion, imprisonment,  and  death.  For  all 
of  these,  physical  force  is  necessary.  To 
create  an  electorate  unable  to  use  physical 
force,  is  not,  as  the  suffragists  seem  to  think, 
merely  doubling  the  present  electorate.  It 
means  pulling  out  the  underpinning,  which  is 
force,  from  every  form  of  government  the 

27 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 
world  has  yet  known. 

The  suffragists  claim  that  the  moral  forces 
ought  to  supplant  mere  physical  force.    But 
the  law  is  made  for  the  law-breaker  who  al- 
ways    uses    physical    force.      If   a    burglar 
equipped  with  a  dark  lantern  and  a  jimmy 
breaks  into  the  house  of  a  sufFragist,  she  does 
not  rely  on  any  moral  force  to  get  him  out. 
She  calls  on  the  nearest  policeman,  and  her 
sole  dependence  is,  physical  force  to  sustain 
the  law. 

Besides  the  two  essential  qualifications  of 
a  voter,  there  are  many  other  desirable  ones. 
Education    Is   desirable,    but   not   essential. 
The  possession  of  education  and  intelligence 
does  not  enable  women  to  force  their  way 
to  the  polls  If  opposed  or  to  execute  laws  ere- 
ated  under  woman  suffrage.    The  spectacle  of 
one  half  the  electorate  unable  to  execute  a  sin- 
gle  law  It  has  made,  or  even  to  deposit  Its  bal- 
lots  without  the  assistance  of  the  other  half, 
is  a  proposition  so  fantastic  that  It  is  difficult 

28 


THE  LADIES'   BATTLE 


to  attack  it  seriously. 

The  trouble  would  begin  with  the  mere  at- 
tempt of  women  to  deposit  their  ballots.  A 
dozen  ruffians  could  prevent  a  hundred  women 
from  depositing  a  single  ballot.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  this  means  would  be  used  by 
the  rougher  elements,  and  that  the  polls  would 
become  scenes  of  preordained  disorder.  In 
London,  on  April  2,  191 1,  a  gang  of  roughs 
barred  a  crowd  of  suffragists  from  a  skating 
rink  hired  by  them.  The  women  were  help- 
less, and  the  roughs  were  subdued  by  some 
men  suffragists  marching  with  the  women. 
Meanwhile,  the  police  stood  by,  laughing  and 
inactive.  Suppose  the  skating  rink  had  been  a 
polling  place  ?  Against  the  disturbances  which 
would  occur,  women  might  invoke  the  law,  but 
they  could  not  enforce  it.  They  would  be  de- 
pendent upon  that  moiety  of  men  who  might 
be  willing  to  assist  them.  The  constabulary 
has  always  proved  totally  inadequate  to  main- 
tain order  at  the  polls  when  there  was  a  de- 

29 


i 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

termined  effort  at  disorder;  and  there  is  in 
the  American  nation  a  fixed  hostility  to  the 
employment  of  troops  at  polling  places.     It 
is  a  fact,  probably  unknown  to  the  suflfragists, 
that  every   administr-  'on   which    has  ever 
passed  a  force  bill,  or  even  made  a  serious 
endeavor  to  do  so,  has  lost  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  the  next  election.     This 
has  given  rise  to  the  axiom  that  an  electorate 
which  cannot  protect  itself  is  not  worth  pro- 
tecting, and  the  country  is  better  off  without 
it  than  with  it.     This  principle  has  worked 
unerring  since  the  foundation  of  the  Repub- 
lic, and  is  in  itself  the  natural  protection  of 
the  ballot. 

Supposing  the  ballots  of  women,  however, 
to  have  been  deposited  by  the  indulgence  of 
men,  women  will  surely  be  called  upon  to 
legislate  for  men  upon  subjects  of  which  no 
woman  has  ever  had,  or  ever  can  have,  any 
practical  experience.  True,  men  now  legis- 
late  for  women.     But  there  is  no  trade,  pro- 

30 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


fesslon,  or  handicraft,  of  which  women  have 
a  monopoly,  and  in  which  no  man  has  any 
experience.  It  has  often  been  pointed  out 
that  women  could  not,  with  justice,  ask  to 
legislate  upon  matters  of  war  and  peace,  as 
no  woman  can  do  military  duty;  but  this 
point  may  be  extended  much  further.  No  wo- 
man can  have  any  practical  knowledge  of  ship- 
ping and  navigation,  of  the  work  of  train- 
men on  railways,  of  mining,  or  of  many  other 
subjects  of  the  highest  importance.  Their 
legislation,  therefore,  would  not  probably  be 
intelligent,  and  the  laws  they  devised  for  the 
betterment  of  sailors,  trainmen,  miners,  etc., 
might  be  highly  objectionable  to  tha  very 
persons  they  sought  to  benefit.  If  obedience 
should  be  refused  to  these  laws,  who  is  to  en- 
force them?  The  men?  Is  it  likely  they 
will?  And  if  the  effort  should  be  made, 
what  stupendous  disorders  would  occur  I 
The  entire  execution  of  the  law  would  be  in 
the  hands  of  men,  backed  up  by  an  irrespon- 

31 


i, 

I, 

f' 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

sible  electorate  which  could  not  h'ft  a  finger 
to  apprehend  or  punish  a  criminal.  And  if  all 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  executing  the 
law  lay  upon  men,  what  right  have  women  to 
make  the  law? 

Great   questions   would   arise  concerning 
national  defense  and  internal  protection.  The 
votes  of  women,  not  one  of  whom  would  be 
called  upon  to  share  the  hardships  of  a  mili- 
tary life,  might  decree  t!at  a  hundred  thou- 
sand  soldiers  would  be  sufficient  in  a  case 
where  the  men  from  whom  these  soldiers 
would  be  recruited  would  say  that  two  hun- 
dred  thousand  were  needed.     By  providing 
only  half  that  number,  those  men  might  be 
sent  to  their  destruction.     Would  they  go? 
And  if  they  refused,  who  is  to  make  them  go  ? 
Where   would   be   the    justice    in   allowing 
women  a  voice,  and  an  utterly  Irresponsible 
ballot,  on  this  subject?     Sometimes,  suffra- 
gists  say  that  the  women,  who  stay  at  home, 
suffer  as  much  as  the  men  who  go  to  the 

32 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

front.  In  war,  all  suffer;  but  the  women  are 
f^.^ript  from  marching  and  freezing  and 
iipht'ng,  and  horrible  wounds  and  agonizing 
lath,  such  as  soldiers  and  sailors  must  face. 
If  these  be  really  sufferings,  the  women  who 
stay  at  home  do  not  suffer  as  much  as  the 
men  who  go  to  war. 

^  In  municipal  affairs,  the  men  might  de- 
cide  that  a  city  needed  for  Its  protection  a 
police   force  of  fifteen  hundred  men;    the 
v.omen,  not  one  of  whom  would  be  called 
upon  to  risk  her  life  as  a  policeman  risks  his, 
might  conclude  that  a  thousand  men  would 
be  enough,  and  those  thousand  men  would 
have  to  face  odds  with  which  It  would  re- 
quire  fifteen  hundred  men  to  deal;  and  awful 
disasters  might  result.     But  suppose  the  po- 
lice refuse  to  meet  these  odds.    Again,  who  Is 
to  make  them  do  it?    A  considerable  propor- 
tion  of  men  are  unable  to  do  military  or  con- 
stabulary  duty.    To  add  to  this  irresponsible 
percentage  among  men  the  whole  feminine 

33 


;t' 


r:( 


"— .'^^if--;7„^'—  -.  -Tljf  ■• 


JLU 


I   I 


I 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

electorate,  would  be  to  reduce  the  responsi- 
ble electorate  to  a  minimum. 

In  a  recent  magazine  article,  Mrs.  Clar- 
ence Mackey,  a  leading  suffragist,  advances 
with  much  simplicity  the  proposition  that  In- 
fluence such  as  women  now  possess,  without 
responsibility,  is  a  very  bad  thing.  She  pro- 
poses to  substi;:ute  the  authority  of  the  ballot 
in  place  of  influence,  but  still  without  respon- 
sibility. If  influence  without  responsibility  is 
dangerous,  authority  without  responsibility 
must  be  a  thousand  times  more  dangerous. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  most  dangerous  thing  on 
earth.  The  suffragists  are  not  always  as  log- 
ical as  Aristotle,  nor  as  subtle  as  Ulysses. 
Suffrage  is  not  a  simple  thing.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  complex  things  on  this  planet;  It 
has  Its  dangers,  and  Its  consequences  reach 
far  and  last  long.  Man  suffrage  differs  from 
woman  suffrage.  Perhaps  the  Supreme  Being 
made  a  ridiculous  blunder  in  creating  sex,  but 
it  is  now  too  late  to  remedy  it. 

34 


IV 


THE  second  basic  principle  against 
woman  suffrage  is,  that  no  voter 
can  claim  maintenance  from  an- 
other voter.  AH  voters  must  stand  on  the 
same  level.  This  is  a  fundamental  of  repre- 
sentative government.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  has  not  a  single  privilege  as  a 
voter,  which  the  humblest  citizen  in  the 
United  States  does  not  possess. 

The  relation  between  voting  ;.  J  mainte- 
nance is  close  and  essential,  and  admits  of  no 
modification.  It  is  based  upon  the  principle 
that  no  voter  shall  be  compelled  ''O  maintain 
any  person  who  has  i.  vote  which  may  be  cast 
against  his  benefactor,  thereby  imparing  or 
destroying  the  capacity  of  the  benefactor  to 
maintain  the  beneficiary.  The  proposition 
is  entirely  just  and  reasonable,  and  relent- 
lessly logical.    No  principle  of  government  is 

35 


li 


II    I 


THE  LAD     S'  BATTLE 

worked  out  with  more  of  mathematical  exac- 
titude than  this  question  of  a  vote  and  main- 
tenance.    On  attaining  his  majority,  a  man 
loses  all  claim  to  maintenance  as  long  as  he  is 
a  voter.     The  right  to  maintenance  is  what  a 
man  gives  up  for  a  vote.     If  he  should  be- 
come a  pauper,  he  at  once  loses  his  vote.    He 
may  not  lose  a  single  desirable  qualification  as 
a  voter;  his  excess  of  integrity  may  have  made 
him  a  pauper ;  he  may  be  more  virtuous  and 
more  intelligent  than  ever  before  in  his  life. 
But  the  instant  he  establishes  a  legal  claim  for 
maintenance,  his  vote  is  taken   away.      In 
twelve  states  paupers  are  specifically  disfran- 
chised.    In  the  rest,  the  property  qualifica- 
tion and  the  poll  tax  efl^ect  the  same  thing. 
No  man  can  pay  another's  poll  tax,  and  if  pau- 
pers tried  to  vote,  they  would  undoubtedly  be 
challenged.     Now,  if  it  be  not  because  a  vote 
and  maintenance  are  incompatible,  why  is  a 
virtuous  and  intelligent  pauper  disfranchised  ? 
Has  any  one  ever  given  any  other  reason  ? 

36 


ti: 
il 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

Can  any  other  reason  be  given?  When  the 
suffragists  can  make  a  satisfactory  answer  to 
this  question,  the  cause  of  suffrage  will  have 
a  mountain  removed  out  of  its  path.  But  no 
satisfactory  answer  can  be  given,  except  that 
no  voter  can  be  maintained  at  the  expense  of 
another  voter.  The  fact  that  the  women  in 
the  suffrage  states  are  in  general  supported  by 
the  husbands,  does  not  impair  this  principle. 
The  suffrage  experiment  is  too  new  and  too 
limited  to  have  already  worked  out  all  its 
logical  results.  It  will,  however,  if  it  should 
prevail  generally.  The  suffragist  claim  that 
a  wife  renders  services  to  her  hus- 
band, which  entitles  her  to  maintenance, 
is  not  sound.  Maintenance  has  nothing  to  do 
with  service.  It  is  true  there  is  a  fiction 
of  the  English  common  law,  which  declares  a 
husband  to  be  entitled  to  his  wife's  services. 
But  every  method  of  enforcing  this  is  care- 
fully penalized  by  statute  law  in  the  United 
States,  and  so  far,  no  man  has  been  found, 

37 


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THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

ingenious  enough  to  compel  a  wife's  services 
against  her  will.  A  wife  may  be  paralyzed 
within  an  hour  of  her  marriage  and  never 
be  able  to  move  hand  or  foot,  and  be  unable 
to  render  the  smallest  service  to  her  husband. 
She  is,  however,  just  as  much  entitled  to 
maintenance,  as  if  she  slaved  forty  years,  for 
a  husband  and  fourteen  children.  She  may 
become  insane,  but  her  husband  is  still  bound 
to  maintain  her,  nor  can  he  get  a  divorce 
from  her  on  the  ground  of  her  insanity,  and 
inability  to  perform  any  service.  A  wife's 
maintenance  is  her  equivalent  for  a  vote. 
But  if  she  acquires  a  vote,  she  must  give  up 
her  right  to  maintenance,  because  there  is  a 
direct  conflict  between  a  vote  and  mainte- 
nance and  also  all  her  property  privileges.  It 
operates  between  man  and  man,  and  being  a 
basic  principle,  must  in  the  end  operate  be- 
tween man  and  woman.  The  wife,  for  exam- 
ple, may  be  a  free-trader,  and  the  husband  a 
protectionist.    The  wife  may,  by  her  single 

38 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

vote,  cause  tariff  changes  that  would  enorm- 
ously impair  the  husband's  power  of  support- 
ing her.  This  impairment  may  be  done  in  a 
more  direct  manner  by  the  wife  of  an  official. 
She  might  by  her  vote  reduce  his  salary,  or 
even  cause  his  office  to  be  abolished  entirely, 
thereby  leaving  him  without  an  income.  To 
say  that  wives  would  always  vote  for  their 
husbands'  financial  interests  is  to  accuse  wo- 
men of  absolute  and  complete  corruption. 

That  this  condition  does  not  exist  in  the 
suffrage  states,  does  not  disprove  the  princi- 
ple. On  the  contrary,  the  fact  that  in  the  suf- 
frage states  women  have  been  deprived  of 
enormous  property  privileges,  which  the  wo- 
men in  the  anti-suffrage  states  enjoy,  proves 
that  the  prinr'nle  is  working.  Not  enough  at- 
tention has  been  given  to  this  striking  fact, 
and  very  few  women  have  any  suspicion  that 
they  must  pay  heavily  for  acquiring  a  vote. 

In  Colorado,  Utah,  Idaho  and  Wyoming, 
a  wife  has  no  dower,  she  is  jointly  responsible 

39 


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THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

for  the  support  of  the  children  and  the  home- 
stead  may  be  mortgaged  or  sold  without 
her  consent.    In  Utah,  a  wife  is  jointly  liable 
for  household  expenses,  and  may,  as  in  Col- 
orado,   under     certain     circumstances,     be 
forced     to     support     the     husband.     This 
has    followed    inevitably    from    giving  the 
ballot    to    women,     and    it    will    be    in- 
teresting  to  watch  in  the  State  of  Washington, 
the  same  taking  away  of  property  privileges. 
In  contrast  to  the  suffrage  states,  the  non-suf- 
frage states  in  general,  grant  enormous  prop- 
erty  privileges.    Virginia  and  New  York  may 
be  taken  as  fair  average  examples.     In  both, 
a  woman  may  sell  her  real  estate,  and  any 
other  property  she.  possesses,  without  the  bus- 
band's  consent  or  even  knowledge.     But  the 
husband  cannot  dispose  of  any  part  of  his 
real  estate,  without  his  wife's  consent,   the 
wife  to  be  questioned  in  private  by  a  law  offi- 
cer,  as  to  whether  she  is  willing  to  give  her 
consent.     In  Ohio,  a   non-sufFrage  State,  a 

40 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

man  securing  a  divorce  f»-om  his  wife  under 
certain  circumstances,  is  given  alimony;  but 
knowing  that  no  man  would  dare  to  apply  for 
it,  the  law  is  mandatory  and  alimony  is  given 
the  man  arbitrarily.  In  no  non-suffrage  state 
is  the  wife  called  upon  to  support  the 
husband,  as  in  the  suffrage  states  where 
non-support  of  a  husband  is  a  ground  of 
divorce.  In  Utah,  this  is  frankly  enforced 
and  the  census  of  1900  shows  that  six  women 
in  Utah  were  divorced  by  their  husbands  for 
non-support. 

At  this  point  comes  in  one  of  the  most 
startling  features  of  the  suffrage  movement. 
It  might  be  imagined  that  the  first  point  to  be 
settled  would  be — how  does  suffrage  affect  the 
property  privileges  of  women?  But  so  far, 
not  one  word  has  ever  been  publicly  spoken 
at  the  suffrage  conventions  on  this  subject, 
nor  is  it  even  alluded  to  in  any  printed  or 
spoken  utterances,  except  a  general  denial  that 
women  will  lose  any  property  privileges  by 

41 


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THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

acquiring  a  vote.  This  position  is  forced  up- 
on the  suffragists.  If  they  admitted  otherwise, 
the  suffrage  movement  would  collapse.  They 
are  obliged  to  maintain  that  there  would  be 
two  classes  of  voters,  if  women  voted^-onc 
without  property  privileges,  and  the  other 
with  property  privileges,  and  the  class  with- 
out propertyprivilegeswould  be  liable  for  the 
support  of  the  class  with  property  privileges. 
This  sounds  more  like  a  Gilbert  and  Sullivan 
opera  than  a  serious  proposition.  The  suf- 
fragists cannot  deny,  however,  that  the  wo- 
men in  the  suffrage  states  have  suffered  a  ter- 
rible curtailment  of  their  property  privileges, 
and  the  men  have  acquired  a  correspondingly 
large  increase  of  their  property  privileges. 
Woman  suffrage  is  so  advantageous  to  men, 
in  relieving  them  of  responsibilities  and  en- 
dowing them  with  property  at  the  expense  of 
their  wives,  that  it  is  a  wonder  all  men  are 
not  in  favor  of  woman  suffrage.  In  non-suf- 
frage states,  the  statute  law  endows  the  wife 

42 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


with  privileges  at  the  expense  of  the 
husband  from  the  moment  she  becomes 
a  wife,  and  gives  the  husband  no  cor- 
responding  privileges.  And  for  women 
who  are  not  wives  the  unwritten  law 
which  is  always  much  more  strictly  obeyed 
than  the  written  law,  has  decreed  that  the 
father,  if  able,  shall  maintain  his  adult 
daughters  as  long  as  they  remain  unmarried. 
The  exceptions  to  this  only  prove  the 
rule.  Under  the  present  dispensation,  the 
status  between  husbands  and  wives  is,  prac- 
tically, that  the  husband  has  the  vote  and  the 
wife  hasthe  property.  In  lieuof  avote,  the  law 
has  given  the  wife  enormous  property  privi- 
leges  which,  of  course,  are  totally  inconsist- 
ent with  the  possession  of  a  vote.  The  law 
of  property  between  husband  and  wife  may 
be  broadly  stated  as  follows: — 

The  wife  on  her  marriage  does  not  be- 
come responsible  for  any  debts  owed  by  her 
husband  before  marriage;  the  husband  on 

43 


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THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

marrying  becomes  in  many  states  responsible 
for  every  debt  owed  by  the  wife  before  mar- 
riage. The  wife  is  the  sole  possessor  of  her 
own  estate;  the  husband  is  not,  and  never 
has  been,  the  sole  possessor  of  his  own  estate 
unless  there  is  a  pre-nuptial  contract.  He 
cannot  alienate  his  wife's  dower,  either  in  his 
lifetime  or  by  his  will.  A  husband's  courtesy- 
right  in  his  wife's  estate  by  no  means  corre- 
sponds in  value  with  the  wife's  dower-right 
in  his  estate.  A  wife  is  not  liable  for  her 
husband's  debts;  a  husband  may  not  excuse 
himself  frcm  paying  his  wife's  debts,  even  on 
the  ground  that  they  were  contracted  without 
his  knowledge,  or  even  against  his  prohibi- 
tion. The  law  compels  him  to  pay  those 
debts  of  his  wife  which  are  reckoned  justifi- 
able and  in  proportion  to  the  husband's  in- 
come  and  station  In  life.  A  married  woman 
is  entitled  to  her  own  earnings;  a  married 
man  is  not,  and  never  was,  entilted  to  ias 
own  earnings.    The  law  compels  ram  out  of 

44 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

them  to  give  adequate  support  to  his  wife 
and  minor  children.  The  woman  seeking  di- 
vorce from  her  husband  can  compel  him  to 
pay  her  counsel  fees,  and  to  give  her  alimony 
if  she  be  the  innocent  party,  even  if  he  marry 
again,  and  this  alimony  continues  until  the 
former  wife's  death  or  remarriage.  She  can 
also  compel  her  former  husband  to  provide 
for  the  support  of  the  minor  children.  A 
husband  seeking  divorce  from  his  wife  can- 
not force  her  to  pay  his  counsel  fees  or  se- 
cure alimony  from  her,  or,  if  she  be  guilty, 
force  her  to  support  the  minor  children,  al- 
though the  wife  may  be  wealthy  and  the  hus- 
band may  be  penniless. 

It  may  be  said  in  passing  that  this  over- 
indulgence on  the  part  of  men  toward  women 
in  divorce  laws  is  to  a  great  degree  responsi- 
ble for  the  divorce  evil.  In  most  states,  the 
laws  concerning  the  property  privileges  of 
women  seem  to  be  embodied  sentimentalism ; 
and  in  some,  the  husband  appears  to  have  no 

45 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

lights  which  the  wife  is  bound  to  respect.  In 
Louisiana,  a  non-suffrage  state,  a  wife  is  her 
husband's  first  creditor.  In  Michigan,  a  non- 
suffrage  state,  a  man  may  not  lawfully  pawn 
his  own  clothes  without  his  wife's  consent, 
while  In  Georgia,  a  recent  legislature  pro- 
posed to  add  to  the  gift  of  all  of  a  man's 
property  to  his  wife,  that  it  should  be  a  felony 
in  the  State  of  Georgia  for  a  man  to  "de- 
fame" a  woman.  These  delightful  Knights 
of  LaMancha  omitted  to  define  what  consti- 
tutes defaming  a  woman. 

The  confiscation  of  a  part  of  a  man's  prop- 
erty and  wages  for  the  benefit  of  his  wife,  the 
instant  he  marries,  has  existed  for  so  many 
ages,  that  men  are  accustomed  to  it,  and  see 
the  justice  of  it,  provided  always  that  the  wife 
has  not  a  vote,  by  which  his  ability  to  support 
her  may  be  impaired  or  destroyed.  But  when 
the  wife  acquires  a  vote,  the  men,  in  the  suf- 
frage state  quickly  saw  the  justice  in  with- 
holding these  great  property  privileges  from 

46 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


women,  and  withdrew  them. 

The  propertj  privileges  of  a  wife  and  a 
mother,  are  supremely  important,  because 
they  involve  the  question  of  a  woman  being 
able  to  stay  at  home  and  rear  her  children. 
To  make  wives  and  mothers  wage  earners  is 
a  grave  injury  to  the  state.  The  contrary  is 
held  by  the  suffragists,  whose  leaders  have 
sometimes  said  that  the  State  and  women 
would  be  benefited  if  every  woman  had  a 
gainful  employment.  This  is  strictly  in  line 
with  the  socialistic  tendencies  of  suffrage,  for 
suffrage  and  socialism  walk  hand  in  hand. 
The  opposite  view,  however,  appears  to  have 
been  recognized  in  the  organization  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  and  in  conse- 
quence, women  have  been  entrenched  in  privi- 
leges of  all  sorts,  in  order  to  enable  a  woman 
to  do  her  duty  to  the  state ;  for  the  state  rests 
upon  the  family.  For  this  reason,  the  courts 
have  always,  in  the  United  States,  treated  the 
question  of  a  wife's  share  in  her  husband's 

47 


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THE   LADIES*   BATTLE 

earnings  as  a  vested  right,  to  which  she  is 
entitled  whether  she  needs  the  money  or  not. 
A  woman  may  have  millions,  yet  (except  in 
the  suffrage  states)  she  owes   her  husband 
no  maintenai^te.     But  she  has  a  right  to  a 
share  in  every  dollar  he  earns  if  she  chooses 
to  demand  it.      Lately,  a  Michigan  judge, 
rightly  named  Stern,  directed  a  man  who  was 
earning  seven  dollars  a  week,  to  give  a  share 
of  it  to  his  wife  on  her  demand,  although  the 
wife  had  an  income  of  eighteen  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year  from  Investments.     "I  will  not 
put  a  premium  on  lazy  husbands,"  declared 
this   Michigan  judge.      "The   woman  with 
property  must  be  protected  as  well  as  her 
less  fortunate  sisters.     This  man  shall  pay 
his  wife  two  dollars  a  week,  or  go  to  jail." 
In  New  York  City,  later  still,  a  man  with  a 
salary  of  eighteen  dollars  a  week  was  ordered 
to  pay  five  dollars  a  week  to  his  wife  who 
had  an  unearned  Income  of  fourteen  hundred 
dollars  yearly.  In  this  case,  the  man  refused, 

48 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

and  at  last  accounts  was  languishing  in  pris- 
on. 

In  the  city  of  Washington,  a  man  is  not  ex- 
empt  from  contributing  to  the  support  of  his 
wife  even  if  he  be  without  employment.  When 
this  is  urged,  the  husband  may  be  sent  to  the 
workhouse,  and  made  to  work  there,  and  his 
earnings  are  handed  over  to  his  wife.    This 
is  constantly  done.    In  neither  the  Michigan 
or  the  New  York  c  3e  was  it  pretended  that 
the  wife  needed  the  money;  it  was  given  her 
to  support  the  principle  that  a  wife  must  be 
maintained.    The  principle  is  sound,  because, 
how  can  a  wife  and  the  mother  of  minor  chil- 
dren  do  without  maintenance  from  her  hus- 
band  ?  It  is  the  law  of  nature,  as  well  as  of  rjs- 
tom,  that  the  man  should  be  the  bread-winner 
of  the  family;  and  he  is,  ninety-nine  times  out 
of  a  hundred.    The  few  instances  to  the  con- 
trary  only    prove    the    rule.      How    many 
mothers  with  young  children  are  capable  of 
self-support?     If,  however,  she  becomes  a 

49 


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THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


voter  she  must  take  her  place  with  all  the 
voters,  and  abandon  all  claim  to  maintenance 
upon  anybody. 

Here  arises  a  new  and  cataclysmal  compli- 
cation. What  becomes  of  the  rights  of  the 
minor  children?  At  present,  in  the  non- 
suffrage  states,  the  father  alone  is  lia- 
ble for  the  support  of  the  children.  But 
if  a  wife  and  mother  had  a  vote,  she  would 
become  jointly  liable  for  the  support  of  the 
children  as  in  the  suffrage  states.  How 
is  that  liability  to  be  divided?  The  fath- 
er would  be  responsible  for  half  the 
maintenance  of  a  child;  the  mother  re- 
sponsible for  the  other  half.  What  is  the 
half  of  maintenance  ?  Half  the  expenses  for 
keep,  half  for  doctors'  bills,  half  for  school 
expenses,  half  for  clothing.  The  mere  at- 
tempt to  adjust  the  property  rights  between 
a  husband  and  wife,  both  of  whom  are  voters, 
and  the  minor  children,  would  bring  about 
chaos.    It  is  a  problem  never  before  presented 

50 


THE   LADIES'   BATTLE 

upon  a  considerable  scale,  for  it  must  never 
be  forgotten,  that  conditions  prevailing  in 
primitive  and  sparsely  settled  communities, 
like  Wyoming,  Idaho,  Utah  and  Colorado, 
are  unlike  those  in  densely  populated  and 
highly  civilized  states,  with  laws  and  customs 
dating  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.     This  divided  responsibility 
for  children  would  work  more  difficulty  in 
Philadelphia,  than  in  Wyoming  or  Utah.  The 
question  of  divided  responsibility  for  the  main- 
tenance of  children  is  practically  incapable  of 
adjustment  upon  a  large  scale;  that  is  to  say, 
the    litigation    which    would    result    would 
swamp  ten  times  as  many  courts  as  exist  in  the 
United  States  to-day.     It  would  present  un- 
known complications  in  the  transfer  of  prop- 
erty, in  the  making  of  contracts,  in  the  carry- 
ing  on  of  business,   in  every  transaction  in 
which  a  married  man  or  a  married  woman  was 
a  party.     It  would  be  necessary  to  wipe  out 
most  of  the  common  law,  "the  world's  most 

51 


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THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


copious  fountain  of  human  jurisprudence", 
and  change  most  of  the  statute  law  relating  to 
property.  No  lawyer  or  financier  living 
would  undertake  to  prophesy  the  result,  ex- 
cept stupendous  loss  to  women  and  a  cataclys- 
mal  confusion  and  destruction  of  values. 

The  suffragists  cannot,  in  truth,  be  expect- 
ed to  encourage  a  full  and  free  discussion  of 
this  subject,  of  property  privileges  and  ex- 
emptions for  women.  The  mere  agitation  of  it 
would  be  disastrous  to  suffrage.  Women 
would  take  the  alarm,  they  would  investigate 
their  property  privileges  for  themselves,  and 
suffrage  would  receive  a  mortal  blow.  They 
would  also  find  out  that  women  in  the 
non-suffrage  states  enjoy  a  vast  number 
of  immunities  which  they  would,  of  course, 
have  to  resign,  if  they  acquired  a  vote.  Ex- 
emptions, long  held,  seem  to  be  rights.  Then 
there  are  a  great  number  of  laws  which 
frankly  discriminate  in  favor  of  working 
women.    The  courts  have  held  that  laws  reg- 

52 


i' 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

ulating  the  hours  of  labor  for  women  in  fac- 
tories, are  constitutional,  although  the  same 
laws  referring  to  men  are  declared  unconsti- 
tutional— for  courts,  like  legislatures,  recog- 
nize that  the  wife  and  mother,  actually,  or 
potentially,  is  the  first  object  of  protection  by 
the  state.  In  many  non-suffrage  states,  women 
are  immune  from  arrest  in  certain  cases  where 
men  are  arrested;  and  in  all  the  non-suffrage 
states,  is  that  great  undefined,  but  powerful 
protection  with  which  the  law  of  custom  sur- 
rounds women.  The  withholding  of  the  baU 
lot  is,  in  itself,  a  protective  measure  for  the 
wife  and  mother.  The  law  does  not  allow 
her  to  be  burdened  with  a  ballot  which  would 
drive  her  out  of  the  fortress  which  legisla- 
tion and  custom  have  built  around  her. 

There  are  two  classes  of  women  in  the 
world — ^the  women  with  property  and  the 
women  without  property.  To  the  woman 
with  property,  the  suffragists  offer  as.  a  prin- 
ciple a  strange   fallacy,  not   found  in   any 

53 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


system  of  government  on  this  planet — that 
the  payment  of  taxes  entitles  the  taxpayer  to 
vote.  The  phrase  "Taxation  without  repre- 
sentation is  tyranny"  has  been  wholly  misun- 
derstood by  them.  It  is  indeed  a  misleading 
phrase,  especially  to  persons  unfamiliar  with 
governmental  principles.  But  it  was  never 
meant  or  taken  in  the  sense  that  the  payment 
of  taxes  carried  with  it  a  vote.  It  did  not 
refer  to  individuals  at  all,  or  to  an  enlarge- 
ment of  the  electorate.  There  is  not  the 
smallest  evidence  to  show  that  the  Colonies 
ever  sought  or  desired  parliamentary  repre- 
sentation, and  the  subject  was  never  men- 
tioned except  to  be  dismissed.  As  Sydney 
George  Fisher  says.  In  his  "Struggles  for 
American  Independence,"  "It  Is  to  be  under- 
stood that  they  (the  American  Colonies)  did 
not  ask  for  representation  In  Parliament. 
They  declared  It  to  be  impossible.  .  .  . 
They  always  insisted  that  representation  was 
unpossible." 

■54 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

The  phrase,  as  originally  used,  referred  to 
what  were  really  international  relations.  The 
suffragists  in  general  think  it  meant  that  no- 
body should  pay  taxes  who  had  not  a  vote. 
This  notion  would  have  made  the  founders  of 
the  Republic  smile — for,  as,  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  once  calmly  reminded  an  in- 
discreet advocate,  "It  may  be  assumed  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  knows 
something."  It  knows  there  is  no  essential 
relation  between  taxation  and  representation. 
It  knows  that,  if  this  principle  proclaimed 
by  the  suffragists  were  adopted,  the  public 
income  would  stop. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  taxation,  in  its 
inception,  meant  protection;  that  is  to  say, 
property-owners  paid  in  order  to  have  their 
property  protected.  In  any  event,  a  woman's 
property  as  well  as  a  man's  must  be  protected 
by  a  man.  If  her  rights  are  infringed,  she 
has  the  same  redress  that  men  have — the 
power  of  the  courts,  with  men  to  carry  the 

55 


I 

I 


I 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

mandate  into  effect,  because  no  woman  can 
carry  any  law  into  effect.     The  property  is 
taxed,  and  not  the  individual.     Nobody  has 
proposed  that  the  property  of  minors  should 
be  exempt  from  taxation.    In  the  District  of 
Columbia  with  its  343.005  inhabitants,  no 
man  has  a  vote  there,  but  no  man  has  had  the 
assurance  so  far  to  ask  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion.     The  entire  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  officers,  the  best 
educated  body  of  men  in  the  country,  are 
practically  disfranchised  through  difficulty  in 
establishing  domicile,  and  for  other  reasons. 
Yet  army  and  navy  men  are  required  to  pay 
taxes  just  as  much  as  civilians. 

The  idea  that  taxation  carries  with  it  a 
vote  Is  peculiarly  ludicrous  when  employed 
by  suffragists  from  the  South.  There  is 
probably  not  one  of  them  to  be  found  who 
advocates  restoring  the  franchise  to  the  two 
million  negro  voters,  increased  by  two  more 
millions   of   ignorant   negro   women-voters; 

56 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


but  the  Southern  suffragists  have  not  so  far 
proposed  to  exempt  the  ten  million  negroes 
in  the  South  from  taxation.  But  if  no  one 
should  be  taxed  who  has  not  a  vote,  theri 
these  ten  million  negroes  should  be  exempt 
from  taxation;  also  all  lunatics,  minors,  and 
criminals;  all  army  and  navy  officers  and 
men;  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territories 
and  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  million  or  more  foreigners  who  are 
added  annually  to  our  population  would  also 
be  exempt  from  taxation  for  at  least  five 
years — the  shortest  time,  under  our  pres- 
ent naturalization  laws,  in  which  an  alien 
may  become  a  voter.  But  this  would  only 
be  the  beginning  of  the  exemption.  Citizen- 
ship cannot  be  forced  upon  any  man,  and  im- 
migrants might  choose  to  remain  aliens,  and 
no  doubt  would,  in  order  to  escape  taxation. 
Sad  to  say,  great  numbers  of  American  citi- 
zens would  cross  the  Canadian  border  and 
become  loyal  subjects  of  King  George,  and 

57 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

exchange    their    citizenship    for    exemption 
from  taxes.    If  Mr.  Carnegie,  Mr.  Rockefrl, 
ler,  and  Mr.  Pierpont  Morgan  should  choose 
to  become  aliens,  they  would  be  exempt  from 
taxation.     Vast  foreign  corporations  would 
be   represented  by  a   few  individuals,   who 
would  remain  aliens  and  pay  no  taxes.  There 
are  a  few  states  where  an  alien  cannot  hold 
real  estate,  but  there  are  many  other  forms 
of  property  which  are  taxed,  and  in  most  of 
the  states  a  foreigner  may  own  anything  he 
can  pay  for,  and  he  is  taxed  from  the  mo- 
ment  he   acquires   it.     To  differentiate   be- 
tween voluntary  and  involuntary  aliens  would 
be  to  call  the  whole  population  of  the  United 
States  Into  court. 

The  proposition  that  taxation  without  rep- 
resentation is  an  injustice  would  no  doubt  be 
enthusiastically  supported  by  every  scoundrel 
among  men  In  the  United  States  of  America. 
If  a  man  by  reason  of  crime  were  deprived 
of  his  vote,  or  by  not  having  the  educational 

58 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


qualifications  which  are  usually  required,  he 
would  also  be  exempt  from  taxation.  In 
fact,  if  taxation  without  representation  be 
adopted  as  a  principle  of  government,  no- 
body need  pay  taxes  who  does  not  want  to, 
and  the  number  of  persons  who  really  want 
to  pay  taxes  is  unfortunately,  small. 

The  attitude  of  the  suffrage  body  toward 
this  "Taxation  without  representation  is 
tyranny"  principle,  is  peculiar.  The  more 
intelligent  suffragists  discovered  some  time 
ago,  the  falsity  of  the  principle,  and  have 
quietly  disavowed  it.  But  like  the  proposi- 
tion that  voting  is  a  natural  right,  it  has  been 
for  so  long,  a  cardinal  belief  with  the  suffrage 
body,  and  has  been  so  often  embodied  in  their 
official  statements  that  they  are  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  repudiate  it  generally.  Moreover,  it 
continues  to  be  their  most  specious  argument, 
and  has  won  more  converts,  perhaps,  to  suf- 
frage than  any  other  appeal.  It  made  the  great 
and  good  Florence  Nigthingale  a  suffragist. 

59 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

She  wrote—'Tou  ask  my  reasons  for  believ- 
Ing  In  woman  suffrage.  It  seems  to  me,  al- 
most self-evident  an  axiom,  that  every  house- 
holder and  taxpayer  ought  to  have  a  voice  in 
the  expenditure  of  the  money  we  pay,  includ- 
ing as  this  does,  interests  most  vital  to  a  hu- 
man being." 

Here  speaks  the  woman  unlearned  in  gov- 
ernment. The  equally  great  and  good  Queen 
Victoria,  who  was  profoundly  versed  in  gov- 
ernment never  made  any  such  blunder,  but 
was  an  open  and  vigorous  opponent  of  wo- 
man suffrage,  knowing  what  voting  meant. 

Another  point  upon  which  the  better  edu- 
cated suffragists  disagree  with  the  main  body, 
is^  that  of  a  sixteenth  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution, permitting  women  to  vote.  It  has 
been  long  understood  that  every  State  can  reg- 
ulate Its  own  electorate  without  Interference 
from  the  Federal  Government,  and  that  de- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Court  have  reduced 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  a  dead  letter. 

60 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


But  the  Woman's  Journal,  the  official  organ 
of  the  suffragists,  still  thinks  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  in  operation  and  gravely  de- 
clares the  voting  laws  of  Oregon  unconstitu- 
tional, because  they  restrict  voting  to  white 
men.  Many  suffragists  still  plead  for  a  six- 
teenth amendment,  and  in  the  past,  all  did. 

"Taxation  without  representation  is  ty- 
rany"  is  not  the  only  oratorical  phrase  which 
the  suffragists  have  mistaken  for  a  govern- 
mental principle.  They  have  adopted  as  a 
principle,  the  phrase  "Governments  exist  by 
the  consent  of  the  governed."  Nobody  ever 
thought  that,  not  even  the  man  who  wrote  it, 
except  the  suffragists.  Governments  exist  by 
the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  governed.  If 
government  exists  by  consent  of  the  governed, 
there  Is  a  small,  but  very  dangerous  minority 
In  the  jails  and  penitentiaries  who  have  never 
given  their  consent  to  any  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  never  will.  And  if  consent  Is  an 
essential  of  government,  these  guests  of  the 

6i 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

State  ought  to  be  turned  loose  Immediately. 
The  suffragists  would,  no  doubt,  shrink  as 
much  as  the  non-suffraglsts  from  the  practical 
application  of  this  principle. 

In  England,  strange  to  say,  the  vote  and 
tax  theory  is  not  wholly  exploded,  as  the 
suffrage  bill  of  1 910  shows.  Many  English 
suffragists  refuse  to  pay  taxes  because  they 
cannot  vote,  and  compel  eviction  in  con- 
sequence. 


62 


THERE  can  be  no  doubt  that  a 
wave  of  suffrage  has  swept  over 
the  world  in  the  last  few  years. 
Besides  what  has  been  done  in  Amer- 
ica, Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Fin- 
land have  adopted  full  suffrage  for  women; 
Sweden,  Norway  and  Denmark,  have  limit- 
ed suffrage  in  various  forms  and  Portugal  de- 
clared for  it,  immediately  at  the  establishment 
of  a  republic.  No  complete  test  has  been  ap- 
plied to  it.  There  have  been  neither  wars  nor 
revolutions  in  the  Scandinavian  countries,  in 
Australia,  or  New  Zealand,  and  in  Finland, 
political  conditions  are  in  a  state  so  unhappy, 
that  nothing  can  be  predicted  concerning  wo- 
man suffrage.  Certainly  it  has  not  improved 
political  affairs  in  Finland. 

In  England  it  would  be  unjust  to  confound 
the  section  of  law-abiding  and  dignified,  if 

«3 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

mistaken,  suffragists  with  the  shrieking  and 
savage  mobs  that  make  one  shudder  at  the 
thought  of  intrusting  them  with  a  vote.   Cer- 
tum  of  these  insane  creatures  have  actually 
made  the  threat  publicly,  that  if  women  in 
England  are  denied  a  vote  much  longer,  a 
number  will  be  told  off  every  year  to  commit 
suicide,  until  men  yield  full  suffrage  to  wo- 
;nen.    This  brings  to  mind  the  stem  words 
of  the  late  Queen  Victoria,  the  first  sovereign 
on  earth  who  understood,  maintained  and  ob- 
served a  constitution,  and  who,  in  the  sixty- 
four  years  of  her  reign   had  more  govern- 
mental experience,  more  practical  knowledge 
of  politics  than  any  woman  who  ever  lived, 
— "The   Queen   is  most   anxious   to   enlist 
every  one  who  can  speak  or  write  in  check- 
ing this  mad,   wicked   folly  of  'Woman's 
Rights'  with  all  its  attendant  horrors.** 

This  illustrious  lady  was  celebrated  for 
knowing  what  she  was  talking  about. 

The    present    Liberal    government    has 

64 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

shown  a  singular  vacillation  concerning  the 
frenzied  English  women  who  rioted  for  suf- 
frage.   In  1909  the  London  police  were  us- 
ing dog-whips  upon  them.    In  19 10,  the  non- 
partisan committee  appointed  by  Prime  Min- 
ister  Asquith    reported    a    bill    giving   the 
franchise  to   women   householders   in   their 
own  right,  and  those  occupying  at  their  own 
expense  domiciles  of  a  certain  value.  A  large 
majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  prompt- 
ly expressed  itself  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and 
is  passed  rapidly  to  its  second  reading  before 
the  adjournment  of  Parliament  in  August, 
19 10.    With  the  example  of  the  Fourteenth 
and  Fifteenth  Amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  before  us,  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  British  Parlia- 
ment may  not  do  something  equally  irra- 
tional.   As  in  that  case,  Parliament  may  yield 
to    the    clamors    of    frantic    fanatics;    but 
when  a  legislature  does  that,  it  always  has  to 
pay  a  fearful  price.    Also,  Parliament  is  as 

65 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


likely  as  any  American  legislature  to  mistake 
a  minority  for  a  majority.  For  it  must  not 
be  forgotten,  that  women  suffragists  are  in 
a  minority  in  every  one  of  the  twenty-two 
states  in  which  there  is  limited  suffrage,  and 
there  are  many  women  opposed  to  suffrage  in 
the  full  suffrage  states,  except  in  Utah.  In 
that  still  polygamous  state,  women  are  unani- 
mous for  woman  suffrage. 

To  the  impartial  observer,  however,  the 
action  of  the  Liberal  government  in  England 
appears  to  be  a  political  trick  of  the  first 
magnitude.  The  passage  of  the  suffrage  bill 
to  its  second  reading  did  not  commit  any- 
body to  anything.  It  is  not  the  first  time 
this  has  happened.  Mr.  Asquith,  in  pre- 
senting the  bill,  made  a  strong  speech  against 
it.  So  did  several  of  the  opposition  leaders, 
which  gave  their  action  the  look  of  throwing 
a  tub  to  a  whale.  The  suffragists,  however, 
seem  to  have  considered  that  Parliament  was 
pledged  to  carry  the  measure  through.    In  the 

66 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

autumn  of  1 910,  when  a  general  election  was 
determined  upon,  some  months  in  advance  of 
the  time  expected,  it  was  only  possible  for  the 
expiring  Parliament  to  pass  measures  of  the 
first  consequence.     The  militant  suffragists, 
under  the  lead  of  Mrs.  Pankhurst,  made  vio- 
lent demonstrations,  and  proceeded  in  a  large 
body  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  on  a  certain 
day  in  November,   19 10.     It  was  observed 
that  great  numbers  of  the  rioters  were  very 
young    girls,    shrieking    with    their    elders, 
"Votes  for  women  1"  They  found  the  doors 
of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  locked  against 
them.     They  continued  their  disorderly  de- 
monstrations, and  when  Prime  Minister  As- 
quith  issued  from  the  Hou?**  of  Commons, 
numbers  of  suffragists  rush,     ^c  him,  struck 
him  in  the  face,  and  yelled  "Traitor!  Cow- 
ard," etc.    He  was  only  saved  from  further 
rough  treatment  by  the  police  shoving  him 
into  a  motor  car,  which  sped  away,  followed 
by  a  screaming  mob  of  suffragists.    It  is  only; 

67 


f 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

just  to  say  that  there  is  a  body  of  self-respect- 
ing suffragists  in  England  who  deplore  these 
shocking  proceedings  and  realize  that  it  is 
disgracing  the  cause. 

Nothing  illustrates  better  the  political  ig- 
norance of  the  militant  suffragists  than  the 
notion  that  the  legislative  body  of  any  civil- 
ized country  in  time  of  peace,  would  dare  to 
legislate  at  the  dictation  of  a  mob.  When 
that  is  done,  it  means,  as  was  sometimes  the 
case  in  the  French  Revolution  and  the  Com- 
mune in  1 87 1,  that  the  mob  rules,  and  a  sec- 
tion of  it  legislates.  If  the  Liberal  govern- 
ment had  so  much  as  mentioned  the  suffrage 
bill,  with  the  shrieking  rioters  outside  the 
building,  it  would  have  been  hurled  from  pow- 
er inside  of  twenty-four  hours.  To  yield  to 
a  mob  of  suffragists  one  day,  would  be  to 
yield  to  a  nob  of  socialists  the  next  day,  and 
a  mob  of  anarchists  the  day  after.  Mrs. 
Pankhurst,  in  a  speech  in  Paris  in  January, 
191 1,  openly  threatened  to  make  trouble  at 

68 


THE  LADTES'  BATTLE 


the  coronation  of  King  George  If  the  suf- 
frage bill  was  not  passed.  But  In  civilized 
countries,  laws  are  not  passed  under  threats 
of  violence.  Mrs.  Pankhurst  ought  to  read 
history. 

In  considering  woman  suffrage  In  the 
United  States,  as  compared  with  woman  suf- 
frage In  other  countries.  It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  women  In  the  United  States  oc- 
cupy a  far  more  favored  condition  than 
those  In  any  country  In  the  world.  But  here 
appears  a  singular,  a  vital,  and  a  stupendous 
fact— that  In  no  country  Is  woman  suffrage 
so  utterly  unworkable  as  under  the  American 
system  of  government.  There  are  five  car- 
dinal principles  of  woman  suffrage  which  are 
In  direct  conflict  with  five  cardinal  principles 
of  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
This  means,  If  woman  suffrage  should  pre- 
vail, It  would  be  necessary  to  change  the 
present  form  of  government. 

The  first  is.  the  suffrage  contention  that 

«9 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

voting  is  a  moral  right.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  has  decided  that 
voting  is  not  a  moral  right,  but  a  privilege. 
It  would  be  necessary  to  change  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  in  order  to  over- 
ride the  Supreme  Court. 

Second,  women  voters  would  inevitably 
become  a  privileged  class,  their  mere  exemp- 
tion from  military  and  naval  duty  making 
them  such.  The  first  fundamental  of  our 
present  form  of  government  is,  that  there 
shall  be  no  privileged  classes  among  voters. 

Third,  the  suffrage  claim,  that  the  United 
States  could  live  under  an  electorate  of  which 
less  than  half  could  enforce  its  laws,  would 
necessitate  a  large  standing  army,  as  in  those 
countries  where  the  electorate  is  not  strong 
enough  to  enforce  Its  laws. 

Fourth,  the  government  of  the  United 
States  is  based  upon  the  rule  of  the  majority, 
and  not  on  the  consent  of  the  governed;  and 
the  suffragists,  by  their  own  showing,  have 

70 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


less  than  three  per  cent,  of  women  of  the 
country  on  their  side.  Therefore,  when  wo- 
men vote,  the  present  form  of  government 
must  be  fundamentally  changed,  to  admit  of 
the  overruling  of  the  Supreme  Court,  privi- 
leged classes  of  voters,  a  large  standing 
"rmy  and  and  the  rule  of  the  minority. 

Fifth,  the  tendency  of  woman  suffrage  is 
inevitably  toward  Socialism,  the  State  doing 
everything  possible  for  the  individual.  The 
republican  theory  of  government  is,  that  the 
State  shall  only  do  what  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  individual,  and  the  individual 
must  do  everything  possible  for  himself. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  taking  away  from 
women  of  their  enormous  property  privi- 
leges, exemptions  and  Immunities,  vhlch  has 
become  a  component  part  of  our  soc'^1  and 
political  structure,  would  mean  the  tearing 
up  the  foundations  of  that  structure.  It 
must  be  true  that  suffrage  woi  Id  work  less 
harm  in  any  country  in  the  world  than  in  the 

7> 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

United  States. 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  the  one  coun- 
try fn  Europe  in  which  there  is  practically  no 
agitation  for  /oman  suffrage  is  in  France, 
with  forty  years'  experience  of  a  republican 
form  of  government.  Does  this  indicate 
that  the  higher  the  form  of  popular  repre- 
sentative government,  the  less  room  there  is 
for  woman  suffrage,  with  its  privileged 
classes,  and  its  minority  rule  ?  Already,  the 
State  of  Washington,  in  adopting  suffrage, 
has  violated  a  principle  of  republican  govern- 
ment, by  exempting  women  from  jury  duty. 
Woman  sufF-age,  however,  necessarily  in- 
volves privileged  classes. 


72 


VI 


<-'l  '1- 


IT    inus*^ 
fragis  ' 
has 
corum. 

commit f    1,  ill  . 
was    an    efro- 
it  might  bccc^nc 
attitude  of  digri 


laid,    of    American    suf- 

■V.    !•  sr.   "-hat  their  course 

iy  !)cv  n  '  v:  if  dignity  and  de- 


I  uc 


'.ii.  ni  al)*^^  J.  Jities  have  been 
'"'Vmin's  Bible,"  which 
'^  thi  Bible  so  that 
sutl  ngit  document.  This 
>^n  the  part  of  the  suffra- 
gists has  been  recently  disturbed  by  that 
strange  psychic  law  which  makes  violence 
contagious.  The  shocking  conduct  of  a  part 
of  the  English  suffragists  has  not  been  with- 
out its  evil  effects  on  American  suffragists. 

The  first  marked  departure  from  the  or- 
derly procedure  which  had  h'^retofore  ob- 
tained among  American  suffraj.  Jts  occurred 
at  the  Spokane  Convention,  In  July,  1909. 
The  Convention  was  presided  over  by  the 
Reverend  Anna  Howard  Shaw,  President  of 

73 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


the  National  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 
The  delegates  grew  violent,  and  finally  about 
thirty  dissidents  were  forcibly  turned  out  of 
the  church  in  which  the  sessions  were  held, 
and  into  an  adjoining  room,  where  they  were 
locked  in.  The  proceedmgs  then  became 
riotous,  and  above  the  confusion,  the  im- 
prisoned delegates  could  be  heard,  shrieking, 
"We  will  get  even  with  youl"  and  other 
menaces.  The  Reverend  Anna  Howard 
Shaw,  who  was  in  the  chair,  burst  into  tears, 
and  said,  "This  has  worked  a  ruinous  influence 
upon  the  cause  of  suffrage." 

At  the  forty-second  annual  meeting  of  the 
National  Woman  Suffrage  Association,  in 
Washington  in  April,  1910,  the  suffragists 
carried  on  a  street  campaign  which  was  not 
without;  humorous  aspects.  Women,  standing 
up  in  motors,  would  represent  pathetically 
their  miserable  situation  without  the  ballot, 
and  make  passionate  appeals  for  a  vote  to  men 
who  themselves  had  no  votes.     The  official 

74 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

proceedings  and  speeches  showed  a  lamenta- 
ble want  of  legal  and  governmental  knowl- 
edge.   One  lady  announced,  "We  will  make 
a  noise  until  we  get  a  vote."    This  singular 
sentiment  was  applauded  in  apparent  forget- 
fulness  that  the  only  creature  who  gets  what 
it  wants  by  making  a  noise  is  a  baby.     An- 
other delegate   publicly  advocated   race-sui- 
cide, giving  the  perfectly  logical  reason  that 
women  could  not  attend  properly  to  public 
affairs  and  look  after  their  families  as  well. 
On  the  day  when  their  petition  was  presented 
in  the  Senate,  the  galleries  were  crowded 
with    suffragists,     who    became    so     noisy 
that  the  presiding  officer.  Senator  Kean  of 
New  Jersey,  was  obliged  to  announce  that  if 
the  disorder  did  not  cease  the  galleries  would 
be  cleared. 

The  most  shocking  impropriety  of  all  was 
the  public  insult  to  President  Taft  when  he 
was  their  Invited  guest.  The  President 
yielded  to  strong  pressure,  and  on  the  even- 

75 


ki 


I9| 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

ing  of  April  15  made  a  short  address  to  the 
suffragists  assembled  at  the  Arlington  Hotel. 
The  President  spoke  with  the  utmost  courtesy 
and  dignity,  but  on  his  making  some  guarded 
reference  to  the  dangers  attending  the  exten- 
sion of  the  franchise,  the  suffragists  proceeded 
to  make  history  by  hooting  and  hissing  the 
President  of  the  United  States.     This  has 
never  before  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
country.     No  matter  how  hostile  a  crowd 
might  be,  or  of  what  rough  elements  it  might 
consist,  the  President  of  the  United  States 
has  always  been  treated  with  respect.     A 
number   of   the   suffragists,    realizing   their 
frightful  blunder,  sent  a  letter  of  apology  to 
the  Preside. -t.    The  action,  however,  was  not 
unanimous.    At  no  time  during  the  meeting 
was  there  any  discussion,  or  even  allusion  to 
pny  changes  which  might  result  to  the  prop- 
erty privileges  of  women  in  the  event  of  ac- 
quiring a  vote.    Many  strange  ideas  of  gov- 
ernment, however,  were  presented.     A  bril- 

76 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

liant  and  prominent  advocate  of  woman  suf- 
frage gave  the  following  as  the  chief  objects 
of  woman  suffrage: — 

"Woman  suffragists  stand  for  sanitation, 
education,  and  the  uplift  of  six  million  work- 
ing women  in  the  United  States." 

A  very  slight  analysis  of  this  formula  will 
show  many  fallacies. 

First,  is  the  universal  fallacy  on  the  part 
of  the  suffragists  that  all  women  will  vote 
alike,  and  will  vote  right. 

Second:  neither  sanitation  nor  education 
can  be  the  first  or  even  the  most  important 
object  of  government.  Good  laws  well  ad- 
ministered, a  pure  and  competent  judiciary, 
internal  order,  national  defense,  and  many 
other  things,  must  take  precedence  of  sanita- 
tion and  education.  Neither  sanitation  nor 
popular  education  was  known  to  the  found- 
ers of  the  Republic;  yet  these  founders  add- 
ed more  to  the  forces  of  civilization  than  any 
group  of  sanitarians  or  educators  that  ever 

77 


I 


THE  LADIES*  BATTLE 

lived. 

Third:  neither  sanitation  nor  education  is 
a  national  affair,  but  both  are  the  business  of 
states  and  municipalities. 

Fourth:  sanitation  and  education  are  al- 
ready well  attended  to  by  men,  and  as  large 
a  share  of  the  public  income  is  devoted  to 
them  as  the  people  will  bear. 

Fifth:  the  proposition  that  one-half  the 
electorate  of  the  country  shall  devote  its  en- 
ergies to  the  uplifting  of  six  million  working 
women  in  the  United  States  is  a  bald  propo- 
sition to  create  a  privileged  class.  This  is  a 
thing  abhorrent  to  republican  institutions, 
and  is  the  line  of  demarkation  between  re- 
publics and  monarchies.  There  is  not,  and 
never  can  be,  a  line  on  any  statute  book  in 
the  United  States,  regulating  work  and 
wages  between  private  individuals.  Any 
proposition  to  that  effect  is  Socialism  run 
mad.  There  is  a  socialistic  association,  high- 
ly favored  by  suffragists,  to  bring  about  that 

78 


;;i 


MHMMi 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

no  shop-girl  shall  work  for  less  than  four 
dollars  a  week.  It  Is  only  jost  Id  the  well- 
meaning  but  ill-informed  women  who  have 
gone  into  this  movement,  to  say  that  their  un- 
familiarity  with  governmental  problems  is 
the  reason  that  such  a  grotesque  association 
exists.  The  innocent  blunders  of  equally 
well-meaning  and  ill-informed  suffragists  in 
New  York  City  have  involved  them  in  viola- 
tions of  law,  and  several  of  their  leaders 
were  indicted  in  June,  1910,  for  boycotting 
and  conspiracy. 

Suffrage  is  neither  a  philanthropic  scheme 
nor  an  economic  i-neasure,  but  a  registering 
machine  not  only  c5  the  numbers  who  wish  a 
certain  thing  done,  but  of  the  force  which  can  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  it.  Thestock  argument  of 
the  suffragists  has  ever  been,  that  the  suffrage 
would  enable  a  woman  to  get  the  same  pay 
for  the  same  work  as  a  man.  What  they 
probably  mean  by  this  is,  that  a  woman  work- 
ing the  same  number  of  hours  at  the  same 

79 


-n 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

employment  as  a  man,  should  receive  the 
same  pay.  But  it  has  been  tested  in  the  Gov- 
ernment departments  at  Washington,  in  the 
public  schools  of  New  York  City  and  in  many 
other  places,  and  needs  no  test,  that  the 
work  of  women  for  the  same  time  at 
the  same  employment  as  men  is  not  so 
good  in  quality  or  quantity,  and  for  obvi- 
ous reasons.  A  woman  cannot  stand  physi- 
cal effort  and  nervous  strain  as  a  man  can; 
nine  ^undred  and  ninety-nine  women  go  into 
work  with  a  fixed  intention  of  abandoning  it 
at  the  first  possible  moment.  A  woman  at  the 
period  of  her  greatest  energy  is  liable  at  any 
moment  to  make  a  contract  of  marriage, 
which  vitiates  all  other  contracts;  and  women 
are  less  amenable  to  discipline  than  men. 

Suffrage  would  not  increase  the  physical 
strength  of  women;  it  would  not  keep  them 
at  work  if  they  had  a  good  opportunity  to  es- 
cape from  it;  it  would  not  prevent  them 
from  marrying  if  they  wished  to;   and  it 

80 


i   ! 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

would  not  make  them  any  more  amenable  to 
discipline.  SuflFrage  will  not  enlarge  the 
scope  of  a  woman's  employments.  It  will 
not  enable  them  to  climb  telegraph  poles  or 
to  construct  battleships  or  to  build  sky-scrap- 
ers.  It  would  have  no  effect  upon  either 
their  work  or  their  wages,  work  and  wages 
being  entirely  controlled  by  the  law  of  sup- 
ply and  demand. 

It  is,  however,  the  steady  and  universal  con- 
tention of  the  suffragists  that  a  vote  would  put 
the  wages  of  women  on  a  level  with  that  of 
men,  doing  the  same  work.    If  that  were  true, 
the  wages  of  women  in  the  suffrage  states 
would  exceed  those  of  women  in  the  non-suf- 
frage  states.    Such  is  not  the  case.     In  the 
suffrage  states,  women  are  no  better  paid  than 
in  the  non-suffrage  states,  and  in  some  employ- 
ments,  not  so  well  paid.     In  no  one  of  the 
suffrage  states  do  women  teachers  receive  as 
high  a  wage  as  men  teachers.     In  Wyoming 
and  Utah,  women  teachers  are  paid  a  trifle 

8i 


^m 


MMMM 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

over  69  per  cent,  of  the  wage  as  compared 
with  men;  In  Indiana  and  Missouri,  90  per 
cent,  and  in  New  Mexico,  99  per  cent.  In 
no  case  does  suffrage  or  non-suffrage  affect  the 
result.  It  is  regulated  by  the  inevitable  law  of 
supply  and  demand. 

It  is  more  interesting  to  study  the  suffrage 
body  than  their  principles.  The  suffragists 
are  no  doubt,  honest  in  their  convictions,  but 
they  seem  to  think  that  the  science  of  govern- 
ment may  be  acquired  in  twelve  easy  lessons, 
and  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  acquire  it  at  all 
in  order  to  speak  and  write  on  suffrage. 
Many  women  are  bom  with  socialistic  and 
communistic,  rather  than  domestic  tendencies. 
They  have  an  antagonism  to  men,  or  think 
that  men  have  an  antagonism  to  them.  These 
women  readily  become  suffragists,  without  tak- 
ing the  trouble  to  investigate  suffrage.  Then, 
there  Is  a  large  class,  like  the  promoters  of 
Hull  House  in  Chicago,  who  mistake  philan- 
thropy for  government,   not  knowing  that 

82 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

too  much  philanthropy  will  ruin  the  best  gov- 
ernment on  earth.  The  best  exposition  of  this 
class  of  suffraglstf  is  given  in  a:i  article  by 
Miss  Jane  Addams,  entitled  "Why  Women 
Should  Vote,"  and  published  in  the  Ladies* 
Home  Journal  for  January,  1910.  Miss  Ad- 
dams gives,  as  the  direct  objects  for  which 
women  should  be  given  the  ballot,  pure  milk, 
fresh  vegetables,  school  and  factory  inspec- 
tion, keeping  children  off  the  streets,  and 
cleaning  up  the  town  generally.  She  says, 
"If  conscientious  women  were  convinced  that 
it  were  a  civic  duty  to  be  informed  in  regard 
to  their  grave  industrial  affairs,  and  to  express 
the  conclusions  they  had  reached  by  deposit- 
ing a  piece  of  paper  in  a  ballot  box,  one  can- 
not imagine  that  they  would  shirk  simply  be- 
cause the  action  ran  counter  to  old  tradition." 
If  these  excellent  things,  good  food,  and 
sanitation  could  be  secured  by  merely  deposit- 
ing a  piece  of  paper  in  a  ballot  box,  no  sane 
woman  would  hesitate  a  moment.  But  a  wo- 

83 


ii 
li 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

man  of  some  governmental  ideas  might  rea- 
son thus. 

"Here  I  am  told  that  great  benefits  can  be 
secured  for  everybody,  merely  by  women  de- 
positing a  piece  of  paper  in  a  ballot  box.  But 
great  benefits  are  never  secured  so  cheaply. 
The  person  who  tells  me  this,  treats  philan- 
thropic measures  and  city  ordinances  as  fund- 
amentals of  government,  and  calls  them  "in- 
dustrial affairs."  Philanthropy  and  city  or- 
dinances are  not  fundamentals  of  government. 
Nothing  is  said  to  me  of  any  dangers  or  re- 
sponsibilities pertaining  to  the  simple  process 
of  depositing  a  piece  of  paper  in  a  ballot  box, 
but  they  are  very  numerous.  I  might,  if  I 
had  a  vote  in  Chicago,  secure  the  election  of 
magistrates  pledged  to  good  food  and  sanita- 
tion. They  might  keep  their  word,  but  they 
might  divert  so  much  of  the  city's  income  to 
these  measures,  as  to  impair  the  efficiency  of 
the  police  and  fire  departments.  They  might 
sell  the  city  franchises  for  a  song,  and  allow 

84 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


it  to  be  throttled  by  corporation.  Or,  they 
might  not  keep  their  word,  and  the  only  re- 
dress the  women  voters  would  have,  would  be 
a  recourse  to  the  law,  with  men  to  enforce  it, 
and  that  they  have  now.  Then,  if  all  wo- 
men did  not  vote  right  and  vote  alike  on 
philanthropy  and  sanitation,  it  would  necessi- 
tate a  law  like  the  celebrated  act  of  a  Parlia- 
ment, of  Henry  the  Eighth  of  England,  which 
he  caused  to  be  passed  and  called,  with 
austere  simplicity,  "An  Act  to  abolish  Diver- 
sities of  Opinion."  But  not  even  Henry  the 
Eighth  could  carry  that  law  into  effect,  and 
he  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  sovereigns 
who  ever  lived,  and  had  more  personal  influ- 
ence than  Miss  Jane  Addams.  Then,  there  are 
already  in  Chicago,  enough  city  ordinances  and 
state  and  federal  laws  to  make  archangels  of 
everybody  in  the  town,  if  legislation  could 
make  people  virtuous.  It  is  indeed  a  simple 
business  to  deposit  a  piece  of  paper  in  a  ballot 
box,  but  to  enforce  that  ballot  is  something 

8S 


I 


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i 


THE  LADIES*  BATTLE 


else.  There  would  be  great  danger  in  an  elec- 
torate in  a  huge  city  like  Chicago,  in  which 
one-half,  and  a  moiety  of  the  second  half, 
would  be  totally  irresponsible,  and  unable  to 
lift  a  finger  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law. 
Suppose  I  should  be  walking  in  the  street  with 
Miss  Jane  Addams,  and  should  see  a  Greek 
killing  a  sheep  in  his  basement,  and  disregard- 
ing the  helpless  protests  of  a  number  of  wo- 
men voters.  Those  women  voters  would  un- 
doubtedly call  upon  the  nearest  policeman  to 
arrest  that  newly  imported  Greek  armed  with 
a  butcher  knife.  The  policeman  might  call 
upon  all  citizens,  as  he  would  have  a  right  to 
do,  to  assist  him  in  pursuing  and  disarming 
the  Greek.  Neither  Miss  Addams  nor  I 
would  be  of  the  slightest  practical  assistance 
in  the  emergency,  and  would  be  compelled  to 
defy  the  law,  and  fail  to  assist  the  office.. 
Again,  nothing  is  said  in  Miss  Addams'  plea 
for  suffrage  of  any  loss  to  be  sustained  by  wo- 
men acquiring  the  ballot.     But  I  know  that 

86 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

m  the  suffrage  states,  women  have  no  dower. 
They  are  jointly  responsible  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  children  and  may,  under  certain 
circumstances,  be  required  by  law  to  support 
their  husbands.  In  addition,  they  are  liable 
for  jury  duty,  have  no  exemption  from 
arrest  and  enjoy  no  immunities.  Would  it 
not  be  better  for  me  and  for  my  children,  to 
retain  the  enormous  property  privileges  I  now 
have,  the  right  to  be  maintained  by  my  hus- 
band, to  have  an  unalienable  share  in  his  prop- 
erty and  earnings,  exemptions  from  jury  duty 
and  an  enormous  number  of  immunities,  and 
endeavor  to  have  all  violators  of  sanitary  and 
educational  laws  to  be  prosecuted  and  pun- 
ished? Besides,  how  has  this  simple  business 
worked,  of  a  woman  depositing  a  piece  of 
paper  in  a  ballot  box?  Utah  and  Idaho  have 
failed  to  put  a  stop  to  polygamy;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  polygamists  are  the  chief  support- 
ers of  woman  suffrage.  Colorado  has  been 
proved  by  official  figures  to  be  the  most  cor- 

87 


! 


^ 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

rupt  electorate  In  this  country,  and  New  Zea- 
land,  where  women  have  full  suffrage,  has 
been  proved  to  be  the  most  corrupt  electorate 
in  the  British  Empire.    Again,  Miss  Addams, 
who  is  recognized  as  a  leader  in  the  suffrage 
movement,  gives  no  Indication  of  her  views 
upon  the  really  great  governmental  m..tters 
with  which  the  American  press  Is  full,  and 
the  public  mind  much  concerned,  such  as  na- 
tional defense,  the  control  and  fortification 
of  the  Panama  Canal,  ship  subsidies,  deep  wa- 
terways, direct  primaries  and  many  other  sub- 
jects of  like  consequences.     No  man  would 
attempt  political  leadership  without  knowl- 
edge and  conviction  on  these  great  questions. 
What  am  I  to  think  of  a  movement  in  which 
nobody  has  given  the  slightest  indication  of 
knowing  such  matters  exist?     No,  I  thank 
you.     I  see  something  beyond  that  infantile 
suggestion  of  putting  a  piece  of  paper  in  a  bal- 
lot box.     It  is  not  so  simple  as  it  looks.     I 
have  read  a  little  history,  and  I  have  a  few 

88 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


rudimentary    ideas    of   government,    and    I 
promptly  and  positively  decline  a  vote." 

There  are,  of  course,  in  the  suffrage  body, 
that    proportion    of    professional    agitators 
which  are  found  in  all  movements.     Then, 
there  are  numbers  of  women,  who  wish  to  be 
prominent  and  to  get  into  print.    Suffrage  af- 
fords an  easy  method  of  doing  this,  because 
the  suffragists  have  assumed  that  any  and 
everybody  may  speak  and  write  on  this  sub- 
ject.   But  the  great  contributory  cause  to  suf- 
frage,  is  the  general   absence   of  conscious 
humor  among  women.     The  suffragists  have 
not  that  subtle  sixth  sense,  which  tells  them 
when  they  have  aroused  "the  unextinguish- 
able  laughter  of  mankind."    It  is  that  lack, 
which  makes  them  plan  in  New  York  City  a 
suffrage  parade,  with  carriages  full  of  old 
ladies,  and  drawn  by  young  ladies,  and  in  gen- 
eral, resembling  more  a  Mardi  Gras  proces- 
sion than  a  serious  performance;  which  filled 
Carnegie  Hall  with  eager  suffragists,  listen- 

89 


I 


at 
1 


I 

if: 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

ing  breathlessly  to  the  lucubrations  on  suf- 
frage of  a  twenty-year  old  English  girl ;  and 
which  caused  a  prominent  New  York  suf- 
fragist to  proclaim  boldly  her  belief  in  polyg- 
amy. There  is  no  lack  of  unconscious  humor 
among  the  suffragists.  They  ^  lead  for  a 
voter's  share  in  the  government,  but  the 
science  of  government,  itself,  they  treat  as  if 
it  were,  like  Romeo's  first  love,  an  incon- 
siderable thing,  hardly  worth  mentioning. 


90 


VII 


As  to  the  actual  working  of  woman 
suffrage,  one  community — Colo- 
rado—affords the  best  available 
test  after  adopting  suffrage  in  1893,  and  suf- 
frage under  conditions  more  nearly  resembl- 
ing these  in  older  civilizations  and  in  time  of 
profound  peace.  Charges  that  the  Colorado 
electorates  as  well  as  those  of  the  other  three 
suffrage  states,  was  peculiarly  corrupt,  have 
been  brought  forward  alongside  of  the  coun- 
ter-claim by  the  suffragists  that  Colorado  led 
in  reform  the  great  procession  of  States. 

As  far  back  as  1902,  however,  there  seems 
to  have  been  grave  apprehension  as  to  the 
working  of  suffrage  in  Colorado.  On  the 
6th  of  May,  1902,  the  Denver  Republican 
printed  an  interview  with  Judge  Moses  Hail- 
ett,  who  had  been  United  States  Circuit 
Judge  for  the  Colorado  District  for  twenty- 

91 


r 
1, 

I 
■f  > 


11 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


seven  years,  and  previously,  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Colorado  as  a  Terri- 
tory.   Judge  Hailett  said: 

"Our  State  has  had  the  female  suffrage 
plan  a  sufficiently  long  time  to  form  a  fair 
idea  of  its  workings.  I  am  not  prejudiced 
in  any  way,  but  honestly  do  not  see  where 
the  experiment  has  proved  of  benefit.  The 
presence  of  women  at  the  polls  has  only  aug- 
mented the  total  vote;  it  has  worked  no 
radical  changes.  It  has  promoted  no  special 
reforms,  and  it  has  had  no  particularly 
purifying  effect  upon  politics.  There  is 
a  growing  tendency  on  the  part  of  most 
of  the  better  and  more  intelligent  fe- 
male voters  of  Colorado  to  cease  exercising 
the  ballot.  They  still  go  to  the  polls,  but 
need  to  be  urged  by  some  of  their  male  rela- 
tives. I  do  not  believe  there  will  be  any  ab- 
rogation of  the  suffrage  rights  of  women  of 
our  State,  for  the  reason  that  no  man  who  as- 
pires to  office  would  risk  their  displeasure  by 

92 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


advocating  the  repeal  of  the  law.  At  the 
same  time,  if  it  were  to  be  done  over  again, 
the  people  of  Colorado  would  defeat  woman 
suffrage  by  an  overwhelming  majority." 

The  women  voters  of  Colorado  seem  to 
have  gone  rapidly  from  bad  to  worse,  as  the 
celebrated  contested  election  case  of  Bonynge 
versus  Shafroth  shows,  in  the  First  Congres- 
sional District  of  Colorado,  containing  the 
city  of  Denver.  This  case  was  investigated 
during  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty- 
eighth  Congress  (H.  R.  report,  No.  2705). 
The  methods  prevailing  in  the  Colorado 
electorate  were  there  fully  and  officially 
set  forth.  In  this  case,  the  certificate  of 
election  had  been  given  to  Mr.  Shafroth, 
but  it  was  contested  by  Mr.  Bonynge,  and 
the  ballot-boxes  were  brought  to  Washing- 
ton and  opened  in  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives. 

The  ballot-boxes  disclosed  a  state  of  cor- 
ruption comparable  only  with  the  worst  days 

93 


! 

i 

i  I 


4  Si 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

of  reconstruction  in  the  South.  Out  of  a  to- 
tal of  nearly  nine  thousand  ballots  cast,  six 
thousand  were  fraudulent.  In  this  orgy  of 
fraud  and  forgery,  the  women  voters  held 
their  own  gallantly.  It  was  found  that  a 
bogus  ballot  had  been  placed  in  the  boxes, 
and  in  many  cases  that  six  or  eight  or  ten  of 
these  bogus  ballots  were  folded  together  in 
such  a  way  that  they  could  not  have  been 
voted  separately  or  legally.  The  handwrit- 
ing experts  testified  that  all  these  bogus  bal- 
lots had  been  filled  in  by  four  persons,  one 
of  them  a  woman ;  that  this  woman  had  num- 
bered hundreds  of  these  bogus  ballots,  and 
had  them  placed  in  the  ballot-boxes.  On 
page  23  of  the  report,  it  will  be  noted  thaf 
the  polling-list  contained  422  names,  and 
was  in  the  handwriting  of  a  woman  clerk  of 
the  poll.  On  page  24  it  was  shown  that  this 
woman  voted  three  times,  and  she  also  wrote 
in  the  party  designation  for  many  of  the  bal- 
lots.   On  the  same  page  it  Is  shown  that  an- 

94 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

other  woman  signed  the  certificate  in  two 
places  purporting  to  have  been  signed  by  two 
other  clerks.  Certificates  In  a  poll-book, 
purporting  to  be  signed  by  each  of  the 
judges,  were  found  to  be  In  the  handwriting 
of  a  woman,  a  clerk  of  the  poll.  On  page  5 
it  Is  stated  that  although  the  names  of  seven- 
ty.five  women  appear  on  a  poll-list,  the  com- 
mittee found  but  two  ballots  on  which  the 
party  name  at  the  top  appeared  to  be  in  the 
handwriting  of  women. 

It  was  also  proved  that  two  women  ar- 
ranged to  have  a  fight  started  so  as  to  dis- 
tract the  attention  of  the  watchers  at  the 
polls,  while  a  third  woman  stuffed  the  ballot- 
boxes. 

This  gives  a  slight  idea  of  the  corrupt 
methods  prevailing  among  the  women  voters 
of  Colorado.  The  whole  exhibition  was 
such  that  Mr.  Sha froth  did  what  has  never 
before  been  done  in  the  history  of  a  contest- 
ed election  case  In  the  Congress  of  the  United 

95 


if 

if 


:    f 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

States.  He  rose  and  formally  resigned  the 
seat  which  had  been  given  him  upon  the 
prima  facie  evidence  of  the  certificate  of  elec- 
tion. Colorado  has  but  three  Congressional 
districts,  and  in  the  First  District  is  the  city 
of  Denver.  Therefore,  the  state  of  affairs 
prevailing  in  the  First  Congress.-.ial  District 
may  be  reasonably  taken  as  representing  one- 
third  of  the  electorate  of  Colorado,  and  that 
the  wealthiest  and  most  enlightened  third. 

Concerning  the  alleged  purifying  effect  of 
women  voters  on  politics,  it  is  not  indicated  by 
the  following  Associated  Press  dispatch, 
dated  Denver,  May  17,  19 10: — 

"That  Denver  has  gone  *wet,*  seems  as- 
sured by  the  returns  received  up  to  eight 
o'clock  to-night.  Betting  on  a  *wet'  majority 
is  two  to  one,  with  very  little  'dry"  money  in 
sight." 

The  election  went,  two  to  one  in  favor  of 
the  "wets."  This  moved  a  leading  Color- 
ado newspaper,  the  Fnit  Collin's  Express,  to 

96 


,  U^ 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

say,  in  its  issue  of  May  17th,  19 10: 

"On  moral  questions  the  laws  of  Color- 
ado are  famous  for  their  weakness  or  ab- 
sence.   The  liquor  laws  of  Colorado  are  not 
up  to  the  standard  of  other  states.     No 
search  or  seizure  law  is  in  effect  in  the  state, 
and  without  such  a  law  the  illicit  sale  of 
liquor  cannot  be  suppressed.     The  women 
of  Colorado  are  on  trial  in  regard  to  the 
suffrage  movement.     Their  failure  to  bene- 
fit Colorado  by  their  suffrage  is  doing  more 
to  retard  woman  suffrage  in  other  states  and 
nations  than  anything  else.     If  Colorado,  as 
a  result  of  woman  suffrage  had  laws  above 
the  average,  especially  on  moral  questions 
and  where  the  rights  of  women  are  affected, 
if  it  was  a  state  that  could  be  pointed  to  with 
pride  in  regard  to  its  laws  and  their  enforce- 
ment, if  the  city  of  Denver  as  a  result  of 
their  ballot  could  be  changed  from  the  worst 
city,  morally,  in  the  land,  to  one  of  even  aver- 
age decency,  then  the  suffragists  could  give 

97 


i    =  il 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

a   reason   for   asking   for  the   franchise   in 
other  states." 

Newspapers  may  be  depended  upon  not 
to  make  these  statements  concerning  their 
own  communities,  unless  the  proof  be  obvi- 
ous and  overwhelming.  It  would  be  ruinous 
to  the  newspaper  otherwise. 

Some  details  of  this  election  are  fumi-  hed 
by  Mr.  Richard  Barry,  a  representative  of 
the  Ladies'  Home  Journal,  in  the  issue  of 
November  ist,  19 lo.  The  election  was  pre- 
ceded some  months  before  by  a  meeting  of  a 
woman's  political  organization,  at  which  the 
women  fought  with  fists.  At  the  election  in 
May,  1 9 10,  the  sale  of  women's  votes  was 
open  and  shameless.  At  each  of  the  211  vot- 
ing precints  in  Denver,  there  were  four  wo- 
men working  in  the  interest  of  the  saloon- 
keepers. These  women  had  previously  visited 
the  headquarters  of  the  saloonkeepers  and 
openly  accepted  each  a  ten  dollar  bill  for  her 
services.     In  this,  and  in  other  ways,   Mr. 

98 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

Barry  says  he  saw  about  $17,000  paid  to 
women  voters,  who  apparently  made  no  effort 
to  conceal  It,  as  indeed  it  would  have  been 
useless.  One  woman,  whose  business  it  was 
to  challenge  every  temperance  voter  at  a  cer- 
tain polling  place,  did  her  work  so  well  that 
by  twelve  o'clock,  only  fourteen  temperance 
votes  had  been  cast.  The  policeman  on  duty 
threatened  to  arrest  her,  when  the  manager  of 
the  "wets"  replied,  "You'll  not  arrest  her.  If 
you  do,  I'll  have  the  polls  closed  and  post  a 
notice,  *  Closed.  Women  intimidated  at  the 
polls  by  the  police.'  " 

The  woman  was  not  arrested.  Such  whole- 
sale corruption  has  probably  never  been  ap- 
proximated in  any  city  in  the  United  States. 

It  is  not  surprising,  after  these  revelations, 
that  a  strong  movement  was  inaugurated,  in 
January,  191 1,  among  the  soberer  and  more 
intelligent  women  of  Colorado,  headed  by 
Mrs.  Goddard,  wife  of  the  Chief  Justice,  to 
secure   the  repeal   of   the   woman   suffrage 

99 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


I 


amendment    to    the    constitution    of    the 
State. 

Mr.  Barry  also  discovered  that  in  Denver, 
thirateof  juvenile  crime  was  abnormally  high, 
and  the  chief  of  police  of  Denver  told  him  it 
was  increasing  alarmingly.  In  juvenile  illiter- 
acy, he  also  found  that  Colorado  had  one  illit- 
erate child  in  every  sixty,  the  highest  rate 
among  the  white  population  of  any  city  in 
this  country.     It  is  possible  that  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  dower,  that  practical  ownership 
of  the  home,  may  affect  these  questions.     It 
is    sometimes    claimed    by   suffragists    that 
women    in    the    suffrage    states    enjoy    an 
equivalent    for   dower.      But    there    is    no 
equivalent.     A  home   is   generally  the  first 
and    only    property    acquired    by    a    man. 
Few  unmarried  men   own   homes.     Under 
the    present   dispensation,   the    women    of 
the    country,    in   effect,    own    it.      Except 
in   the   suffrage   states,  there  is  practically 
no     conveyance     of    real     estate     in     the 
United  States,  without  the  consent  of  some 

lOO 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


woman. 

From  Utah,  the  stronghold  of  woman 
suffrage,  came  on  the  loth  June,  1910,  the 
following  Associated  Press  dispatch  from  one 
of  the  principals  in  a  proposed  prize  fight 
which  had  been  prohibited  in  California  by 
Governor  Gillett : — 

"  Salt  Lake  City  can  handle  the  fight,  and 
it  can  be  put  on  July  4th" — prize  fighting 
not  being  illegal  in  Utah  as  in  California. 

The  introduction  of  the  woman-suffrage 
question  into  politics  In  the  last  two  or  three 
years  has  already  made  difficulties.  Men,  be- 
ing the  arbiters,  have  naturally  and  wisely 
kept,  In  general,  out  of  the  discussion.  It 
has  been  mainly  carried  on  by  women,  who 
must,  of  course,  settle  It  among  themselves, 
for  it  has  been  shown  that  men  are  willing 
to  grant  the  ballot  to  women  as  soon  as  it 
Is  proved  that  a  majority  of  women  want 
It — and  so  far,  long  before  this  Is  proved. 
Whenever  it  has  come  to  a  test  of  numbers 

lOI 


i  ^1 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

and  political  management  between  the  suf- 
fragists and  the  anti-suffragi  :.  the  latter 
have  secured  an  easy  and  overwhelming  vic- 
tory. 

There  is  something  comtc  in  the  spectacle  of 
the  anti-suffrage  women  displaying  a  shrewd- 
ness of  political  management  that  would  put 
a  professional  politician  to  shame.  It  is  no 
part  of  the  contention  of  the  anti-suffragists 
that  women  are  not  intelligent  enough  to 
vote,  and  the  conduct  of  the  anti-suf- 
frage campaigns  in  New  York  and  Massa- 
chusetts alone  could  prove  this. 

In  1894,  a  strong  effort  was  made  by  the 
suffragists  in  New  York  State  to  have  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  that  year  adopt 
a  woman-suffrage  amendment.  The  antl- 
suff rapists  were  not  aroused  until  the  amend- 
m.  '  ppeared  to  be  certain  of  a  majority  of 
votes.  Then,  a  rapid  campaign  was  organ- 
ized, a  delegation  of  women  went  to  Albany, 
and  by  masterly  tactics  thoy  defeated,  in  a  few 

102 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

weeks,  the  result  of  twenty-five  years  of  ef- 
fort on  the  part  of  the  suffragists. 

This  has  been  repeated  at  nearly  every  ses- 
sion of  the  New  York  legislature  since.  When 
the  suffragists,  after  a  strenuous  and  expen- 
sive campaign,  get  to  Albany,  they  find  at 
the  doors  of  the  Committees  on  Elections,  a 
band  of  quiet  and  resolute  women  who  make 
a  firm  protert  against  the  sacrifice  of  their 
property  privileges,  their  immunities  and  ex- 
emptions, at  the  demand  of  an  insignificant 
minority,  and  the  suffrage  bill  is  killed. 

In  Massachusetts  the  anti-suffragists  were 
brilliantly  successful  In  the  matter  of  the  so- 
called  Referendum  of  1895.  'The  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature  passed  a  bill,  submitting 
to  the  men  voters,  and  to  the  women  voters 
entitled  to  vote  on  school  committees,  the 
question  whether  municipal  suffrage  be  grant- 
ed to  women.  The  suffragists  sought  to 
avoid  the  test  and  appealed  to  the  governor 
to  veto  the  bill  after  it  had  passed.     Both 

103 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

sides  among  women  went  actively  into  the 
campaign.  The  anti-suffragists,  with  admir- 
able strategy,  decided  to  remain  away  from 
the  polls,  while  exerting  all  their  influence 
against  the  proposed  measure.  The  votes  of 
the  men  and  the  women  were  kept  separate. 
The  result  was  a  majority  of  men  opposed 
to  the  bill  of  100,006.  Out  of  an  estimated 
number  of  575,000  women  of  voting  age, 
only  22,204  voted  in  favor  of  the  bill.  In 
47  towns,  not  one  woman's  vote  was  recorded 
in  favor  of  it,  and  in  138  towns  the  suffragists 
secured  in  each  15  votes  or  less;  864  votes 
were  cast  against  it. 

This  illustrates  a  fact  very  important  for 
legislators  to  recognize— the  insignificant 
number  of  suffragists  in  the  whole  body  of 
women.  At  the  National  Woman  Suffrage 
convention  in  April,  19 10,  a  petition  bearing 
the  names  of  404,825  persons  asking  for 
woman  suffrage  was  presented  to  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States.    Of  these  163,438  were 

104 


I'-- 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


the  names  of  women,  122,382  the  names  of 
men,  and  119,008  unclassified.  When  it  is  re- 
called that  there  are  about  twenty  million 
women  of  voting  age  in  this  country  who 
have  not  asked  for  a  change  in  their  status, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  commotion  made  by  the 
suffragists  bears  a  very  small  relation  to  their 
importance. 

The  idea  of  forcing  suffrage,  with  all  its 
attendant  complications,  and  changing  the 
whole  status  of  forty-five  million  women  and 
girls  and  girl-children  at  the  bidding  of  four 
hundred  thousand  persons,  is  in  itself  a  mon- 
strous proposition. 

If  the  suffragists  believe  that  suffrage 
would  be  advantageous  to  women,  they  are 
justified  in  urging  women  to  ask  for  it.  But 
to  demand  of  men  that  the  status  of  ninety- 
nine  per  cent,  of  the  women  of  the  country 
be  wholly  changed  at  the  solicitation  of  less 
than  one  per  cent ,  certainly  shows  an  admir- 
able hardihood. 

105 


I  I 


f  i 


IX 


11 


THE  suffragists  have  said  repeat- 
edly that  if  a  suffragist  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  were 
adopted,  no  woman  need  vote  who  did  not 
wish  to  vote.  This  is  equivalent  to  saying 
that  if  a  sixteenth  amendment,  authorizing 
polygamy  were  adopted,  no  one  need  prac- 
tice polygamy  who  did  not  wish  to  do  so. 
Nevertheless,  it  would  change  the  status  of 
every  woman  in  the  United  States.  Opposi- 
tion to  suffrage  does  not  mean  that  women 
should  not  study  public  affairs,  and  take  an 
intelligent  interest  in  them.  If  women  would 
read  the  proceedings  of  Congress  and  inform 
themselves  upon  state  and  national  affairs, 
and  especially  upon  the  American  form  of 
government,  it  would  broaden  their  minds 
immensely,  and  there  would  be  fewer  suffra- 
gists.   It  would  also  add  to  their  charms,  be- 

106 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

cause  they  could  take  a  sympathetic  interest 
in  those  public  questions  in  which  most  men 
are  more  or  less  engaged.  It  was  this  abil- 
ity to  meet  men  on  their  own  ground  that 
gave  the  women  of  the  French  salons  their 
power.  Those  glorious  French  women  en- 
chanted by  their  grace,  their  sweetness,  and 
their  exquisite  femininity,  and  they  ruled  by 
virtue  of  their  intellect  and  their  profound 
knowledge  of  affairs.  American  women 
could,  by  the  same  means,  exercise  equal 
power. 

The  suffragists  are  quite  correct  in  assert- 
ing that  there  are  certain  public  questions  in 
which  women  have  a  larger  stake,  and  have 
probably  a  better  knowledge,  than  men.  One 
of  these  questions  is  divorce  and  remarriage. 
It  is  not  overstating  the  fact  to  say  that  di- 
vorce in  the  United  States  has  reached  the 
point  of  a  national  leprosy.  Perhaps  the 
greatest  contributing  cause  has  been  the  ex- 
traordinary indulgence  shown  to  women  by 

107 


t 


II 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

the  divorce  laws,  which  unfortunately  make 
divorce  cheap  and  easy,  and  force  the  hus- 
band to  pay  for  it.  There  is  always  a  de- 
mand for  a  uniform  divorce  law  through- 
out the  country,  but  the  difficulties  in  the  way 
have  so  far  prevented  any  serious  attempt  to 
pass  such  a  federal  law. 

It  has  also  been  conceded  for  many  cen- 
turies that  women  are  the  chief  beneficiaries 
of  monogamy,  and  the  chief  sufferers  by  lax 
marriage  and  divorce  laws.  The  proposi- 
tion need  only  be  stated  to  prove  itself— 
that  the  limiting,  if  not  actual  wiping  out,  of 
divorce  is  the  greatest  question,  not  only  of 
the  family,  but  of  the  state,  before  the  wo- 
men of  this  country.  But  it  Is  a  striking  and 
vital  fact,  although  claiming  to  be  the  party 
of  reform,  that  so  far  as  the  suffragists  are 
concerned,  they  have  avoided  in  all  their  pub- 
lic and  printed  utterances,  the  slightest  allu- 
sion to,  much  less  condemnation  of,  divorce, 
except  recommendations  to  make  It  easier.    In 

io8 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


New  York  State,  the  suffragists,  under  the 
lead  of  the  late  Miss  Anthony,  strove  for 
years  to  have  habitual  drunkenness  made  a 
cause  of  absolute  divorce,  instead  of  legal 
separation.  This  illustrates  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner, the  short-sightedness  of  most  of  the  leg- 
islation proposed  by  the  suffragists.  A  man, 
anxious  to  get  rid  of  his  wife,  but  having  no 
legal  cause,  could,  by  the  simple  process  of 
continually  getting  drunk,  offer  a  strong  in- 
ducement to  his  wife,  to  get  a  divorce. 

It  would  be  vain  for  the  suffragists  to  s.  / 
that  divorce  cannot  be  checked,  and  even 
abolished.  In  South  Carolina  there  is  not, 
and  never  has  been,  any  divorce;  but  a  hus- 
band and  wife,  in  extreme  cases,  may  get  all 
the  relief  which  is  necessary  by  a  legal  separ- 
ation. Among  the  fifteen  million  Catholics 
in  the  United  States  there  are  no  divorces, 
and  very  few  legal  separations.  In  all  of  the 
Protestant  denominations  there  are  found 
numbers  of  earnest  clergymen  who  decline  to 

109 


I 
I 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

remarry  divorced  persons.  In  the  Episcopal 
Church,  especially,  a  band  of  conscientious 
and  far-seeing  men  exists  which  takes  the 
only  ground  which  has  so  far  proved  tenable, 
that  no  divorced  person  should  remarry,  that 
neither  the  guilt  nor  the  Innocence  of  the  di- 
vorced persons  can  be  considered,  that  a  cer- 
tain percentage  of  Innocent  persons  must  suf- 
fer In  the  operation  of  the  most  beneficent 
laws,  and  that  the  only  thing  to  be  reckoned 
Is  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number. 

So  far,  however,  from  the  suffragists 
showing  any  antagonism  to  divorce,  there 
seems  to  be  a  close  relation  between  suffrage 
and  divorce.  It  would  be  Interesting  to  fig- 
ure out  the  percentage  of  divorced  women 
among  the  suffragists.  Some  of  their  most 
prominent  leaders  are  divorced  women. 

To  Introduce  the  subject  of  divorce  at  a 
suffrage  meeting  would  be  to  organize  a  riot. 
Like  the  effect  of  suffrage  on  the  property 
privileges  of  women,   the  divorce   question 

no 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


cannot  be  publicly  debated  by  the  suffragists. 
In  the  five  suffrage  states,  all  the  causes  for 
divorce  exist  that  are  recognized  In  the  non- 
suffrage  states,  and  special  causes  which  are 
peculiar  to  the  suffrage  states.  For  exam- 
ple, witness  the  fact  alluded  to  before,  the  six 
women  in  Utah  were  divorced  by  their  hus- 
bands for  non-support. 

In  Colorado  divorce  may  be  obtained  on 
the  ground  of  *   lental  cruelty." 

Divorce  statistics  are  very  complicated,  ow- 
ing chiefly  to  three  things— the  number  of 
Catholics  in  a  State,  the  number  of  negroes, 
and  the  number  of  Mormons.  In  Texas,  for 
instance,  the  divorce  rate  is  enormous,  but  the 
Census  Bureau  estimates  that  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  the  divorces  are  granted  to  negroes. 
In  Colorado,  at  the  time  of  Its  admission  to 
the  Union,  the  divorce  rate  was  the  highest 
in  the  United  States.  The  divorce  rate 
showed  a  slight  falling  off  from  1890  to  1900, 
the    Catholic    population    having    increased 

III 


THE  LADIES'  BATIXE 

largely  in  that  decade.  In  the  census  of  1 910, 
although  the  Catholic  population  of  Colo- 
rado had  increased  to  28  per  cent,  of  the 
whole,  the  state  was  third  in  point  of  divorce 
and  that,  with  few  negroes  or  Mormons,  and 
many  Catholics.  Wyoming,  a  suffrage  state, 
with  few  negroes  or  Mormons,  is  seventh  in 
the  order  of  divorce.  Owing  to  the  dominance 
of  the  Mormon  Church  in  Idaho,  that  State 
Is  ninth,  and  Utah  is  nineteenth  in  the  ratio 
of  divorce,  Mormonism  decreasing  divorce. 

The  five  suffrage  states  show  that  their 
abnormal  rate  of  divorces  prevails  under  con- 
ditions which  are  usually  adverse  to  divorce. 
It  Is  agreed  among  sociologists,  and  is  proved 
by  statistics,  that  divorce  in  general  follows 
wealth,  luxury,  a  highly  artificial  mode  of 
life,  and  complex  social  conditions.  In  the 
suffrage  states,  however,  the  general  mode 
of  life  is  simple  and  the  social  conditions 
primitive.  These  circumstances  enhance 
very  much  the  probable  connection  be- 
lli 


f 


THE  LADIES*  BATTLE 

twcen  suffrage  and  divorce.    It  may  be  noted 
that  the  provisional  government  in  Portugal 
immediately  after  commiting  itself  to  woman 
suffrage,  proposed  a  divorce  law,  more  ut- 
te  ly  unrestrained  than  any  in  existence.     If 
s'  Tage  gives  any  encouragement  to  divorce, 
t!    t  is  enough  to  condemn  it  in  the  eyes  of  all 
political  economists,  all  sociologists,  all  pub- 
licists, and  all  who  love  honor  and  decorum. 
But  that  woman  suffrage  tends  to  divorce, 
is  plain  to  all  who  know  anything  of  men  and 
women.     Political  differences  in  families,  be- 
tween brothers,  for  example,  who  vote  on 
differing   sides,   do   not  promote   harmony. 
How  much  more  inharmonious  must  be  po- 
litical  differences   between    a   husband   and 
wife,  each  of  whom  has  a  vote  which  may 
be  used  as  a  weapon  against  the  other?  What 
is  likely  to  be  the  state  of  that  family,  when 
the  husband  votes  o.*ie  ticket,  and  the  wife 
votes  another?    Human  nature    is    so    im- 
perfect that  most  men  vote  for  what  they 

113 


pii 

m 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

believe  to  be  their  material  interests,  and 
they  can  readily  bring  themselves  to  believe 
that  their  moral  interests  are  identical  with 
their  material  interests.    Even  when  a  voter 
is  willing  to  vote  against  his  temporary  ad- 
vantage, he  always  expects  to  profit  in  the 
long  run.    Tl'c  woman  voter  will  think  like- 
wise.   It  is  doubtful  if  many  marriages  could 
withstand  the  strain  of  the  husband  and  wife 
antagonizing  each  other's  supposed  interests, 
prejudices  and  convictions.    The  more  high- 
ly civilized  the  community,  the  more  these 
causes  of  difference  would  occur.    Whoever 
expects  woman  suffrage  to  have  a  wholesome 
effect  on  marriage,  will  expect  grapes  from 
thorns   and   figs   from   thistles.     And  here 
comes  in  a  question  so  vast  and  so  far  reach- 
ing, that  it  cannot  be  measured,  and  is  "deep- 
er than  ever  plummet  sounded."    What  will 
be  the  effect  of  suffrage  on  women  them- 
selves?   Will  it  make  them  more  intelligent, 
more  courageous,  more  patient,  more  tender, 

114 


maMM 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


in  short,  more  feminine,  for  feminity  is  the 
glory  of  a  woman?  Would  Jeanne  d'Arc 
have  done  more  for  her  country,  if  she  had 
been  a  voter?  Or  would  a  vote  have  doubled 
the  strength  of  Charlotte  Corday's  slender 
arm?  Would  Isabella  of  Castile,  Maria 
Theresa  and  Queen  Victoria  have  been 
abler  sovereigns  if  they  had  believed  in  woman 
suffrage?  Would  Mary,  the  mother  of  Wash- 
ington, have  been  able  to  do  a  better  part  by 
her  man-child,  who  said,  "All  that  I  r  my 
mother  made  me,"  if  she  had  been  a  voter? 
These  women  managed,  without  a  vote,  to 
do  immortal  things.  The  suffragists  cannot 
hope  to  surpass  them. 

I  ask  pardon  for  introducing  a  personal 
note.  My  excuse  is  that  I  may  help  to  dis- 
prove the  fallacy  that  it  is  the  woman  wLo 
works  who  would  profit  by  the  ballot.  I  was 
but  little  past  my  twenty-first  birthday  when, 
on  the  strength  of  having  earned  about  seven 
hundred  dollars  by  my  pen,  I  rashly  assumed 

"5 


i 

3^1 


is  it 

\n 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

the  support,  by  literature,  of  my  family.  The 
rashness,  ignorance,  and  presumption  of  this 
can  only  be  excused  by  the  secluded  life  I  had 
led  in  the  library  of  an  old  Virginia  country 
house,  and  in  a  community  where  conditions 
more  nearly  resembled  the  eighteenth  than 
the  nineteenth  century.  That  I  succeeded 
was  due  to  tireless  effort,  unbroken  health, 
a  number  of  fortunate  circumstances,  and 
above  all,  what  I  am  neither  afraid  nor 
ashamed  to  say,  the  kindness  of  the  good 

God. 

In  the  course  of  time,  I  becf.me,  through 
literature  alone,  a  householder,  a  property- 
owner,  a  taxpayer,  and  the  regular  employer 
of  five  persons.  My  experience,  therefore, 
has  been  more  varied  than  that  of  most  wo- 
men, and  I  know  something  of  the  interests 
both  of  the  woman  who  works  and  of  the 
woman  property-owner,  the  taxpayer,  and 
the  employer.  I  can  say  with  positiveness 
that  there  never  was  a  moment  when  the  pos- 

ii6 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 


session  of  a  vote  would  net  have  been  a  hind- 
rance and  a  burden  to  me. 

I  had  no  claim  on  any  man  to  help  me  fight 
my  way  to  the  polls  in  case  of  opposition. 

I  should  have  been  called  upon  to  vote  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  upon  naval  and  military 
affairs,  police,  shipping  and  navigation,  rail- 
ways and  mines  and  many  other  subjects  up- 
on which  neither  I  nor  any  other  woman 
could  cast  an  intelligent  vote.  I  could  not 
enforce  my  vote  after  it  was  cast.  I  might 
have  been  forced,  at  great  loss  and  inconveni- 
ence, to  do  jury  duty,  just  as  men  are  forced 
to  do  it,  at  a  loss  and  inconvenience. 

These  considerations,  great  in  any  wo- 
man's case,  would  have  been  frightfully  mul- 
tiplied in  the  case  of  a  wife  and  a  mother,  to 
whom  would  have  been  added  the  loss  of  all 
property  privileges,  and  the  terrible  conflict 
of  political  and  family  relations.  I  never 
attempted  or  even  wished  to  do  anything  in 
which  a  vote  would  have  been  of  the  sllght- 

117 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

est  assistance  to  me.  Editors  and  publishers 
did  not  ask  whether  I  was  a  voter  or  not, 
in  judging  my  work,  but  if  it  suited  them 
better,  took  it  in  preference  to  the  work  of  a 
voter.  I  had  the  full  protection  of  the  law, 
and  a  vast  number  of  immunities  and  ex- 
emptions denied  to  voters,  including  women 
who  vote.  I  admit  I  should  particularly 
object  to  be  divorced  for  non-support,  like  the 
six  ladies  in  Utah.  I  cannot,  of  course,  be 
expected  to  admit  that  my  earnest  objection 
to  a  vote  comes,  as  some  suffragists  allege, 
from  mere  lack  of  brains,  "of  which,"  as 
Sir  Thomas  Browne  says,  "every  one  think- 
eth  he  hath  a  sufficiency." 

But  none  of  the  disadvantages  of  the  bal- 
lot for  me  which  I  have  mentioned,  exist  for 
men.  They  can  fight  their  way  to  the  polls, 
and  enforce  their  votes;  the  controversies, 
which  are  so  disast'-ous  and  undignified  for 
women,  are  by  no  means  so  among  men.  In 
short,  men  have  certain  natural  qualifications 

ii8 


THE  LADIES'  BATTLE 

as  voters  which  women  have  not,  and  never 
can  acquire,  and  are  perfectly  adapted  to 
working  the  great  registering  machine  called 

suffrage. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  my  earnest  hope  and 
belief  that  the  sound  good  sense  of  Ameri- 
can women  will  defend  them  from  suffrage, 
and  protect  their  property  privileges,  their 
right  to  maintenance  from  their  husbands, 
and  their  personal  dignity.    And  if  the  wo- 
men of  this  country  will  unite  upon  any  true 
reform,  such  as  the  abolition  of  divorce,  I 
believe  their  power  to  be  so  great  that  they 
can  carry  through  measures  which  thinking 
men  desire,  but  cannot  effect  without  the  as- 
sistance of  women.    I  believe  that  the  most 
Important  factors  in  the  state  ar**  the  wives 
and  mothers  who  make  of  men  good  citizens 
to  govern  and  protect  the  state,  and  I  believe 
woman  suffrage  to  be  an  unmixed  evil. 


i» 


1 


V 


119 


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1 


Il 


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